Daddy Ventus
by Superior of Ice Cream planet
Summary: It was Aqua's idea to take them in, after all Ventus was still in school. He couldn't really be expected to be their dad right? Obviously he is since Aqua's leaving on business trips like no tomorrow and Terra's been sent off on duty over seas. AU. Rebooted as Dream a Little Dream of Me! Please read that one.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ventus tapped the table in front of him. He wasn't in the mood for anything like this. The last thing he wanted was a kid, after all, he was still a kid himself. But Aqua had insisted, this was apparently the best thing she could think of.

"Um, why are they behind this glass?" he asked.

"They're dangerous." The man, Vexen, said. Ventus raised his eyebrows and turned back to the them. They didn't look dangerous, just bored. They actually looked kind of cute… kind of. But then why would they be behind there? There must have been something evil about them.

"So why are you letting them out?" he asked.

"The project has been scrapped." Vexen said, "They aren't necessary anymore."

"Really?" Ventus frowned, how could he be so nonchalant about getting rid of them? "Where's the door?"

"There is no door, I didn't see think it was necessary." Vexen said.

"What? How do you feed them if there's no door?" he asked. Vexen pointed to a large network of tubes.

"They sit there and drink whatever comes out. It provides them with the nutrients they need and a supplement to regulate body weight." Vexen explained, "It's a revolutionary idea. To think that you could have one drink, and never have to eat anything at all for the rest of the day."

"Yeah, but…" he wrinkled his nose, "There isn't anything for them to do in there."

"What do they need to do?" Vexen asked, "They have paper, and they have a crayon."

"Just one crayon?" Ventus asked. He felt kid of angry, how could someone let kids live like that?

"I can have them ready by tomorrow." Vexen said, "Since they've never left the room, they'll need a lot immunizations. Come back at 4 o'clock exactly."

"Exactly? I can't be a little late?" Ventus asked.

"No. Come any later and I'll kill them." Vexen said. Ventus blinked, was he serious? His face looked pretty serious, but surely he wouldn't just say something like that… "Go and introduce yourself to them, I'll wait here."

Ventus pressed a button and walked away. A small panel slid away and a makeshift door appeared. Ventus rolled his eyes, "I thought he said there was no door." he mumbled as he stepped through. The two boys looked at him, but said nothing. "Um, hi." he said. They stayed silent, "My name is Ventus." he introduced himself.

The glass slid back into place and Ventus frowned, why was he being locked in here? "My name is Sora." one of them spoke up. Ventus found himself laughing quietly, the kid sounded like a robot. "I am 6."

"Nice to meet you Sora." he said. He looked at the boy. He had a lot of hair, it seemed like he'd never had a haircut before.

"This is my little brother." Sora pointed to the other boy, "He is 5."

"Yeah? What's your name?" Ventus asked.

"Roxas." The boy answered.

"Oh, nice to meet you." he said. They stood awkwardly for a moment before Ventus took another step closer, "So, what do you do in here?" He examined the room further. There was nothing but a single bed. On the floor was a few sheets of paper and one crayon.

"We draw until the lights go out." Sora said, "Then we sleep."

"Sometimes, we are given water." Roxas added. He pointed to the tubes, "But only sometimes." Ventus frowned. He couldn't imagine having to drink Vexen's miracle water everyday.

"What do you play?"

"Play?" Sora repeated, "We do not do that."

"We do not know how." Roxas said, "But we share the crayon." Roxas pointed to the little stub of the crayon. Ventus nodded, he didn't know why they took turns instead of breaking it in half and sharing it that way.

"Um, okay." he glanced at the tubes again, "So how about I give you some food?"

"What is that?" Roxas asked. Ventus laughed again.

"It's something that most people eat a lot." he explained. He dug through his pockets for the muffin he'd purchased at lunch, it was a banana nut muffin and it was the perfect thing to give them. "Here, eat this." He opened it up and broke it in half. He held his hands out and they boys took a piece.

He watched them taste it and was surprised that their faces stayed the same. If he'd never tasted food before, he was sure he would have been surprised. After all, muffins had a lot more taste then Vexen's weird water.

"I like this." Sora said, he finished his piece and liked the crumbs from his hand, "Can I have more?"

"I didn't bring more." he siad, "But when we leave tomorrow, I can get you more."

"Leave?" Sora repeated, "Why would we do that?"

"Because this place sucks." he muttered.

"What was that?" Roxas asked.

"A banana nut muffin." Ventus answered, "I'll bring more tomorrow."

"But when is that?" Roxas asked.

"Um… tomorrow…" he shrugged, he wasn't sure what time it was, "Maybe in… 24 hours?"

"Alright." Sora said.

Ventus nodded and turned away. He tapped the glass, which looked like a wall from this side and waited for the door to appear. He rushed out and found Vexen standing near the mirror. "You fed them." he noted as the glass slid back into place.

"Yeah, I did." Ventus nodded.

"I'm not sure how their bodies will react to that." Vexen handed him a thick manila folder, "Come back tomorrow at 4. Don't be late." Vexen pushed him out of the room and closed the door behind him. Ventus shook his head and left the building. Out of all the children for Aqua to choose, why did she choose those 2? They were pretty strange and nothing good could come out of bringing them home.

But he could tell that leaving them with Vexen would be even worse. He'd threatened to kill them and Ventus had a feeling that he wasn't joking.

He got into his car and drove away. It was actually Aqua's car, but he used it more then she did. It was a pretty nice car and he always made sure to take care of it. Sure, Aqua had enough money to buy 3 cars everyday, but he knew she would be disappointed in him if he so much as dented it.

All of Aqua's money came from her 3 restaurants. She insisted that he let her pay for everything, and he didn't really mind. He figured he would have to work at some point, but for now, Aqua was intent on paying for everything.

Aqua wasn't his mom, she wasn't related to him at all. They'd lived in the same orphanage and she's promised to take care of him no matter what. She was like that, he assumed she'd wanted to be a mother because she always took care of anyone younger. Or anyone she who she thought needed the care. Like his other friend, Terra.

When Aqua had become old enough, she'd made sure that he came with her when she moved out of the orphanage. She's purchased a tiny apartment and they had lived there for a few months before Aqua opened a small diner. It was successful, yet for some reason it had only made things worse. It wasn't long after Aqua getting a job that Terra decided to join the marines.

He offered no explanations, he just went. That was when Ventus had begun spending his nights alone. Terra was gone, and Aqua was always at work. But he could live with that, because they always came back. Until Ansem came…

Ansem was a big entrepreneur and he had his eye on Aqua's itty bitty diner. He wanted to expand and Aqua didn't say no. She accepted his offer and before he knew, she had 3 more diners in 3 different towns. She was gone more but… she still came back, There were large gaps in between but she always came back.

It wasn't until she came back from her recent trip that she suggested adopting kids. He understood why she wanted to, but considering that she was gone so much, why did she think it would work? And of course, she didn't pick a normal orphanage. She chose a lab with human experiments and creepy scientists who were dead serious when it came to killing kids. And she sent him to check it out without even asking what he thought about it.

But it didn't matter. He couldn't say no, she'd done too much for him to just refuse what she wanted. Nit that it mattered, he was sure she would adopt them anyway, even if he did say no.

He sighed as he finally arrived home. He felt sorry for them, but he couldn't adopt them. He wasn't ready to take care of kids. Not by a long shot. He had school, and he did things after school. How could he even get to them before 4? He'd have to skip school, even though he was sure Aqua wouldn't approve, he'd have to. Just in case Vexen was serious about killing them.

He got out of the car and grabbed the folder. He was tired, there was no way he was going to be able to read it. He would skip school tomorrow and read through it all before picking them up. He went to his room and sighed, the house wasn't big enough for more kids. They weren't ready and everything was happening to fast.

0.o.0.o.0

Sora stared at the wall, why had it moved for Ventus? He'd tried to get through himself, but it wouldn't move for him. He looked to Roxas and sighed, "Is it tomorrow?" he asked.

"No." Roxas answered, "It won't come until 24 hours." The lights shut off and Sora climbed into his bed. He wasn't ready to fall asleep yet, but the lights went out so that meant he had to. "How long is an hour?" Roxas asked.

"I do not know." Sora replied, "I think it is a long time."

"So we have to wait 24 of them for another muffin?" Roxas asked quietly.

"Maybe it will be 24 hours when the lights come back on." Sora said. Things went quiet and Sora found himself awake after a few more minutes. He was curious, he wanted to know what it was like outside of the room. What it was like to "play". What other types of foods there were.

"I can't sleep." Roxas said slowly.

"Me neither." Sora replied. It was going to be a long night.

0.o.0.o.0

EDIT: I redid the chapter. It should be a little better now.


	2. Chapter 2

I get that last chapter was confusing; hopefully this one is a lot better. Because it was my first chapter, it was not good. They never are with me, but the chapters that follow are. After a few chapters, I usually go back and rewrite so I'll let you know when I do.

Chapter 2

Ventus flipped through the pages of the file. There was nothing that said they were dangerous, just a small paragraph about how Vexen had injected them with chemicals when they were babies. But that's it. They were no different then any other kids; they'd just lived away from society for their whole life. That's probably why they were devoid of emotion; he'd heard somewhere that children need a social life if they want to develop emotionally.

Ventus had done as much as he could in the 3 hours he'd been awake. He set up the guest room for them; dug through his closet for something the kids could fit, even packed a small bag of snacks for them. They wouldn't have much, but maybe later Aqua could buy something for them.

On his way to the door, he ran into Aqua. "Ven, perfect!" she said, "I've got the day off and I want to have a nice dinner tonight with the kids."

"Um, alright. Where are we going?" he asked.

"Oh we're having it here." she pulled out her blackberry and started typing away

"So no need too dress special?" he asked

"Actually I want them dressed nicely in case someone stops by." She said, "Make sure they look good please, I have their tuxes all set in my room." She ran off to her room without another word. Ventus sighed, why didn't she just say she was having a dinner and she needed them to look good? Aqua always dropped hints instead of telling it to him straight.

It was 11:25 but he wanted to get there early. Maybe he could ask Vexen what was so dangerous about these kids. He grabbed his keys and walked out of the house.

0.o.0.o.0

Sora sat as far as he could from Vexen. He'd told them as soon as they woke up that they needed to come out of the room. He had expected to see Ventus, but instead he had been strapped to a table and stabbed several times. Now all he could do was sit in the corner and watch the same thing happen to Roxas. He desperately wanted to go back into his room and never leave; but then he thought that if Ventus did take them away, Vexen wouldn't hurt them anymore.

"Stop with the tears, it didn't hurt that much." Vexen snapped. Sora closed his eyes and tried to stop. It was best to listen to Vexen or they'd get in even more trouble. A knock on the door brought Sora out of his thoughts. He looked to the door and saw Ventus. There was a strange feeling inside of him that he couldn't understand. Both he and Roxas stood up and walked over. "You're a little early." Vexen said.

"I didn't want to be late." Ventus said with a shrug, "How long until I can go?"

"Take them now, I'm done with them."

"Now? No paperwork or anything?" he asked.

"No, none of that. You're not adopting them, at least not on my terms." Vexen said.

"Then what am I doing?" Ventus asked curiously.

"Merely taking them in until they are old enough to stand on their own two legs. I believe in your world that age is 18." Vexen said. Ventus rolled his eyes, he got that none of what he was doing was legal. At least he didn't think it was legal to take someone's illegal human experiments without turning the person who performed said experiments into the police.

"Right… do they have to come back here ever?" he asked.

"No, they probably wouldn't want to either." Vexen said, "Go on. Shoo. I'll call you if I need to tell you anything."

"Wait I had a question," he said, "What exactly makes them dangerous?"

"We are not dangerous." Sora said, "May we leave?" Ventus nodded and led them out of the labs. He didn't get an answer from Vexen, but maybe it wasn't important. The kids stayed close to him and eyed their surroundings. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"Outside, we need to go to the store and get some clothes." Ventus said.

"Clothes, we already have clothes." Roxas pulled on his shirt, "See?"

"No, I mean more clothes." Ventus said as they reached the car. He opened the door for them but they just stood. Their eyes were on everything but the car. They huddled together and jumped every time they heard a car whiz by. It didn't take long for Ventus to realize they were afraid. It was the only emotion he'd seen on them, and he didn't like it. "Hey come on, uh… its okay." he said. "Just get in the car." he walked over and ushered them towards the car.

"Are we safe in there?" Roxas asked.

"Safe from what?" Ventus asked.

"Vexen and his needles." Sora said, "They don't feel good." Ventus then realized that they'd just gotten their shots.

"Well, shots hurt. They help you though so it'd worth it." Ventus said.

"But now my arm hurts." Roxas said. Ventus rolled his eyes and put them into the car. He shut the door and got into the drivers seat.

"Put your seatbelts on." he said.

"Our what?" Sora asked. Ventus turned and pulled the grey straps out. Sora grabbed onto it, "How do I put it on?" he asked.

Ventus showed him and looked to Roxas, "Do you need help too?" Roxas shook his head and did the same thing, "Good, now we're going to my house, are you hungry?" he asked.

"Hungry?"

"That feeling in your stomach when you need to eat."

"Oh," Sora nodded, "We require nutrients."

"Require… alright whatever." Ventus found the bag and gave them each I muffin and a bottle of apple juice. "Eat up."

"How do I get it out of the bag?" Roxas asked. He pulled the plastic until it broke, "Never mind." Ventus shook his head and started the car. The engine roared to life and he began to drive. He couldn't wait to dump them with a baby sitter and get on with his life. It might have been too close to the end of the school year to get Aqua to sign them up, so he'd need a babysitter quick, "S-stop…" Roxas shouted suddenly.

"Why?" Ventus tore his eyes from the road and turned to the kids, "What's wrong now?" He glanced back at the road and pulled into a parking lot.

"I don't want to be in here anymore." he said.

Ventus bit his lip and started driving again, if this was how they acted in a car… then he'd just have to take them home. He'd do the measurements himself and buy the clothes on his own time. "We're almost home." Ventus said, "You won't be in here that long."

"What will we do at your house?" Sora asked.

"Um… play?"

"I don't know how to play. Will you show us how?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, and then we'll do something about your hair." Ventus said.

"What is wrong with our hair?" Sora asked.

"I want mine like yours." Roxas said.

"that can be arranged. What about you Sora?" Ventus asked. Sora didn't answer. They pulled into the drive way and Ventus opened the door, "Let's go." he said, "There's someone you need to meet."

"I don't want to get out of the car." Roxas said.

"But… a few minutes ago you said you didn't want to be in the car." Ventus said. He noticed that both of them looked scared still. "You know there's nothing to be afraid of out here." he said, "I'm out here, and I'm fine." Roxas slowly unbuckled his seatbelt, he slid out of the car and ran to Ventus' side, "See, your fine. Come on Sora." Sora stared at the two of them before getting out himself. Ventus closed the door and began shuffling towards the door. The two boys were clinging to his legs with no intentions of letting go.

"It's so bright!" Roxas said.

"And Noisy!" Sora said. Ventus fumbled with his keys and unlocked the door. The kids rushed in and Ventus entered slowly.

"Calm down guys." he closed the door, "Let's get you into some normal clothes."

"Normal? Our clothes are normal." Sora said.

"Not here they aren't." Ventus muttered, "Come on." He led the kids up the stairs and into the guest room. "You know how to put on clothes right? Put those clothes on while I go get Aqua." He closed the door and went to Aqua's room. "Aqua? We're back." he knocked on the door and it opened.

"Perfect, we have a few hours to polish them up. Where are they?" she asked.

"In the guest room, but I-"

"The guest room? They can't stay in there tonight." Aqua interrupted.

"What? Why not?" Ventus asked.

"Terra's coming back and he's bringing a friend we need a place for him to stay." Aqua say, "It's only for a few days. They can sleep with you."

"Aqua…" he started.

"It's just a few days." she said, "This is important. Now where are they? I have someone coming over to do their hair in an hour."

"I already told you, the guest room." Ventus said, "But we need to talk.

"And we will," Aqua moved past him towards the guest room, "Later." Ventus sighed and followed her, he knew how she was with kids and he was hoping it wouldn't scare them.

But it did…

Aqua went in and wrapped her arms around them, "Adorable! What're your names boys?" she asked.

"Ventus…" Roxas said.

"Ventus?" Aqua let him go, "You do look like him I guess."

"Um, no his name is Roxas. He's just scared and I guess he trusts me or something." Ventus said.

"Scared? Oh don't worry Roxas, there is nothing to be afraid of here." Aqua said softly, "I have to get started on dinner, Ventus will play with you and…

"That's Sora." Ventus said.

"Ventus is going to teach us how to play." Sora said.

"Oh… well have fun." Aqua stood up and walked out of the room. A second later he got a text message for Aqua. **'He sounds like a robot' **Ventus rolled his eyes and replied, **'Yeah I know'**

He looked back down at the boys, "Come on, change so we can go play." he said. Sora pulled off his shirt and picked up one of the smaller ones.

They dressed quickly and looked up, "How do we play?" Roxas asked.

"we go outside and-

"You said we didn't have to go outside again." Roxas said.

"I didn't say that… did I?" he was pretty sure he didn't but.

"I want another muffin." Sora said.

"Really? You just had one. Maybe try something knew?" He suggested.

"Like what?" Sora asked

"I don't know fruit? Pudding? Ice cream?" he listed, "Come on we'll raid the fridge." He took the boys into the kitchen and let them marvel at the oven. He opened the fridge and looked around for a pudding cup. They only had one more. "This is Vanilla pudding." he said, he peeled back the lid and handed Sora the cup. "Give it a try."

Sora stuck his finger into it and scooped out some. He eyed it warily before licking it. "It's good." he said. He stuck his finger in again and began to eat the whole cup.

"I want some." Roxas said.

"No, it's mine." Sora said. Roxas frowned and looked up at Ventus.

"I want pudding too." he said.

Ventus looked to Sora, who was just finishing the last of the pudding. "Um, there is no more. But um… you can have something else."

"But… I want pudding." he said.

"Okay… how about this…" Ventus searched the fridge for something else, "Perfect. This is Jell-O." he took the jell-o cup out and grabbed a spoon, "Taste it." He peeled back the lid and scooped some out. Roxas took the spoon and ate it.

"It feels squishy." he said.

"Yeah it does, how does it taste?" he asked.

"Like Jell-o?" Roxas said.

"Yeah here." he gave Roxas the cup and watched him devour it.

"I want some…" Sora said.

"No, because I didn't get any of yours." Roxas said.

"I'm going to tell Vexen if you don't share." Sora said.

"No you won't. Vexen is gone." Roxas said. He finished the jell-o and looked to Ventus, "Can we have more?"

Aqua entered the kitchen, "Hey boys… Ventus! Don't give them sweets before dinner." she said.

"They haven't had this stuff before! Besides all we have really is vegetables and junk." Ventus said. He pointed to all the vegetables, "What else are they supposed to eat?" he asked.

"Muffins." Roxas said.

"We already had muffins." Ventus said, "Besides it's hours until dinner."

"I don't care, no more food until dinner." Aqua said, "Go play or something

"They don't want to go outside." Ventus said.

"Well then… read them a book or something." Aqua said.

"Okay, come on guys." Ventus said.

"What's a book?" Roxas asked.

"A bunch of paper." Ventus answered. He led them out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"What is reading? Can we do that?" Sora asked. Ventus sighed, he really hoped the whole day wasn't going to be like this. He didn't have answers to everything and he could tell they weren't even halfway done asking questions.

"You can, but you have to learn first." Ventus said. They went into his room and Ventus started looking for a book to read. He only had school books really, reading wasn't something he did in his spare time. He searched and searched and found nothing. "I don't have any books to read. So I guess I'll make one up." he said. He sat down on the bed and the boys got in with him.

"Make one up?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah, here we go… uh ..um." Ventus thought long and hard, "Okay I got it. Once there was a boy, he lived in an orphanage. He had two friends who were older than him, they got to move away without him. But they took him too. The boy thought he'd get to spend all his time with them. But one friend joined the army. The other started a restaurant franchise and was hardly home. But the boy could live with that, because the moments when they were together, were good moments. Until one friend told him about other kids. The boy had to go get those kids and take care of them The kids ruined his social life. The end."

"I don't get it…" Roxas said, "And my arm still hurts."

"Well why don't you go to sleep? You won't be able to feel it then." Ventus said.

"But the lights are still on." Sora said. The lights were, in fact, not on. But with the light coming through the windows, it looked like they were.

"Get in bed and I'll turn the lights out when you're ready." Ventus said. He peeled back his blanket and let the boys get into bed, "Okay I'll come back when you wake up."

"Okay then what?" Sora asked.

"We'll do your hair and start getting ready for Aqua's dinner." Ventus said.

"More jell-o?" Roxas asked.

"No, real food."

"Oh, muffins…" Roxas said, "Okay." Ventus rolled his eyes and pulled down the shades. The room darkened and he closed the curtains as well.

"Go to bed." he said. He didn't get a reply but when his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw them asleep. He smiled and left the room. School was still in session so he couldn't hang out with friend, but he could play video games in Terra's room. Ventus raced to the room and closed the door after him. No one was going to bother him. No sooner then 2 minutes after he'd gotten comfortable did someone knock on the door.

Ventus groaned and got up. He opened the door and saw Roxas and Sora, "I though you were sleeping." he said.

"I don't want to sleep." Roxas said, "I want to draw a picture."

"Me too." Sora said. Ventus sighed and let them in, "We will not bother you."

"Yeah." Roxas agreed. Ventus searched the room for some paper and pens. The boys sat down and waited, Ventus found a few blue pens and some paper. He handed the items to the boys and they began to draw, "It's color!" Roxas said.

"Yeah, it's a colored pen. Terra has lots of them." Ventus said, he started the game system and began to play. He felt the boys would notice and eventually ask what he was doing, so he figured he better enjoy it.

"What're you doing?" Roxas asked.

"Can I try?" Sora asked.

"I thought you said you wouldn't bother me." Ventus said.

"We're not." Sora said.

"It's a video game system. I'm playing a game." Ventus explained.

"Playing? You said you would teach us to play." Roxas said.

"Yeah, teach us." Sora said.

"No way. This is Terra's and I don't want you breaking it." Ventus turned it off and turned on a movie, "We'll watch TV instead." The boys stared at the TV, it was on a scary movie, the boogeyman if he was correct. He shrugged, if it kept them occupied, then who cares what they watched.

Ventus snuck out of the room and into the kitchen, "Oh! Cake!" he reached over and tried to swipe some icing.

Aqua smacked his hand away, "That's dessert. It's Terra's favorite." Aqua said.

"Really? What kind?" Ventus asked.

"Chocolate." she answered.

"Oh… you know I'm pretty sure his favorite was Angel food cake." Ventus said.

"No, I don't think so…" Aqua said slowly.

"Well it was, and he'll be pretty disappointed that you forgot." Ventus said, "Of course it's not too late to make another one. I'll eat this one."

"I don't think so! You can't trick me." Aqua placed a lid over the cake, "I know his favorite kind."

"Come on Aqua! I'm hungry." Ventus said.

"You should be watching the boys." Aqua said.

"They're occupied… Aqua, why did we really take them in?" he asked, "Was it really for me?"

"Of course, you looked so lonely so-" Aqua started

"But I wasn't, I have friends and stuff. I wasn't lonely." Ventus interupted, "I think we should get rid of them."

"What? Come on Ventus, they love you. Roxas called to you when he was scared and he barely knows you. They've never seen the world or felt anything really, you can't just get rid of them." Aqua said.

"But they're annoying. All they do is ask questions, and I can't have a minute to myself." Ventus said, "I don't like them."

"Shhh! You know what happens when you talk like that. Every time in movies, the people you're talking about over hears you and stuff happens." Aqua said, "Besides, they're just kids. You just need to get used to them."

"Well what about when I'm at school? You'll be at work, who's watching the kids then?" he asked, "They're to young to leave home alone."

"I have it planned out, you won't have to worry about it." aqua said, "Now got to sleep, you look tired."

"I'm hungry!" Ventus said.

Aqua chuckled and handed him a cookie, "That's all you get, I'm working hard with this dinner and I don't want you getting full like last time." she said.

"I won't." Ventus said, he headed upstairs to his room. He just needed to get used to them, that's all. At least he hoped that was all.

0.o.0.o.0

A/N: okay superstoyboi124 I can put you in, but first I need to know about the character. You can send me a description in a pm or something, I promise to put you in chapter 4, if I don't get it before then I'm just going to make stuff up.

R&R


	3. Chapter 3

Ventus awoke from his nap to the sound of children screaming his name. He groaned and sat up, who could that be? He rubbed his eyes and yawned before realizing exactly who was screaming his name. He hopped out of bed and ran to Terra's room. The kids weren't in there; he could only assume that it was time for their new haircuts. "Oh god…" he muttered, they reacted badly to cars and loud noises, how would they react to scissors? He ran down the hall, "Aqua!" he yelled.

"Ven? Great you're awake." Aqua stepped out of the bathroom, "They're really scared." she said.

"Yeah I can tell. Are they getting their hair cut?" he asked.

"No… they got through that just fine…" she said.

"Then what?" he asked.

"Well… Terra came home, I told him not to bother you because you were sleeping…" she said.

"Go on." Ventus said impatiently.

"So I introduced him to Sora and Roxas… and it was fine but then he left and came back with a scary mask and they got scared." She said, "Terra took it off to show them it was fake but they're still scared."

"Why didn't you wake me up?""Because you looked so tired, I thought it was best to let you sleep." Aqua said, "But since you're awake, maybe you can calm them down?"

"I can try…" he walked into the bathroom and saw Sora and Roxas cowering in the tub, "Hey guys…

"Ventus!" Roxas jumped up and climbed out of the tub, "You have to get in the tub, or the buggerman's going to get you." he pulled Ventus' leg towards the tub, "Hurry!"

"Guys, Terra is not the boogeyman. It was just a joke." Ventus said, "He does it to me all the time." That didn't calm him down at all, it only made him pull harder.

"Maybe we can make him disappear, like on the box." Sora said.

"What?" Ventus asked, "What's the box?"

"The box with the people in it, the bookyman came out of there. So we can make him go back into the box." Sora said.

"No, it doesn't work like that. People can't come out of the box, well it's called a TV. They can't go into it either, Terra is our friend and he won't hurt you." Ventus said. Sora and Roxas both stared up at him for what seemed like forever. Ventus stared down at them uncomfortably, "So why don't we uh… go see Terra and I can show you he won't hurt you."

"No! He's a monster! I saw him. Even if he did not come out of the box he is a monster." Sora said. Ventus sighed and pulled Roxas off of his leg.

"Come here Sora." he said. Sora got out of the tub and walked over, "Terra is not a bad guy. He does stuff to protect you, except he does it far away. Like aqua, she-

"Aqua! She went out there!" Roxas said, "S-she gave us cookies and now she's gone."

"No, Aqua is fine. I'll show you." He started to walk out of the room but both Sora and Roxas grabbed him.

"NO! You can't! he'll eat you and…and we'll have to go back to Vexen!" Roxas said, "We don't like him! We like you!"

"Guys, you won't go back to Vexen." Ventus said, "Now let go." The children didn't budge, "come on…" he shook his legs but they didn't let go. Ventus sighed and pulled them off, "Come on, he won't hurt you." he said. He walked out of the bathroom and turned around, only to see the door slamming in his face, "Hey! Open the door!" he shouted.

"Didn't work?" Aqua asked.

"No." he said with a sigh, "We need to show them terra isn't bad I guess." They both started for the kitchen, "I think it's because they watched a scary movie." he said.

"You let them watch a scary movie? Ventus!" She pushed him lightly, "You don't let children watch scary movies!"

"They were occupied! They didn't look scared watching it either." Ventus said. They entered the kitchen and saw Terra and his friend at the table eating cake. "Hey! How come they can have some?" Ventus asked.

"They can't… Terra I told you that was for dessert." Aqua said.

"Oh but I couldn't resist, you know it's my favorite." he said.

"Whatever, I can make another." she said, "The main point right now is that you scared those kids and now they won't leave the bathroom."

"Ha-ha! Yeah, I got 'em good." Terra laughed.

"Terra! Come on, we need them out of there. They think you killed Aqua and are going to kill me." Ventus said.

"Ha! Really? These are some cool kids you picked out Aqua." Terra said.

"This is serious Terra!" Aqua said.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'll talk to them and then it'll all be over." Terra said.

"That won't work, they think you want to hurt them, I don't know any kid who wants to talk to a murderer." Ventus said, "I can't even get them to leave and they like me." Terra laughed again and Ventus groaned, "Terra! It's not funny."

"Oh I know, this isn't funny." he said, "But you having to sleep with them tonight is. They'll want you to check under the bed, in the closet, they'll want lights on in the room and… they'll do everything you did when you first watched a scary movie."

"What? I never

"Yes you did." Aqua said thoughtfully, "You had me do al that stuff and wouldn't let me leave."

"Well then, if I get them to open the door, you guys go in and we'll-" He stopped mid-sentence when he heard the kids scream again. This time they sounded closer, he turned around and saw a bar of soap flying towards his face. He ducked out the way and it hit the fridge.

"Aqua! Come over here!" Sora shouted.

"Hey quiet down!" Ventus shouted back. He walked over and they grabbed his leg again.

"The monster's right there." Roxas said, "and he's got another person with him."

"Stop, he's not going to hurt you." Aqua said, she walked over and lifted Roxas into a chair, "He just wants his cake."

"I want cake." Roxas said.

Sora climbed into the chair next to Roxas, "Me too."

"What? You're just going to forget about-" Aqua put a finger to her lips and cut the boys small slices of cake.

"You see boys, it was all just a joke.

"What's a joke?" Roxas asked.

"Um… something that is usually funny, sometimes just stupid." Aqua said.

"Was this funny?" Sora asked

"Yes." Terra mumbled.

"No." Aqua said, "It was stupid, And Terra won't do it again. Isn't that right Terra?"

"No. I won't." Terra mumbled, "Me and Zack are going out." He stood up and his friend followed, "See you at dinner."

Ventus sat down in Terra's seat and started to eat his cake, "How long until the dinner?" he asked.

"Just two hours, and I still have so much to do." Aqua said, "Oh, but what do you think of their hair?" She gestured to the boys. Ventus hadn't actually looked at them until now. But now that he did, he noticed Roxas' hair looked exactly like his. Sora's hair was pointed downward, with a few spikes.

"Um, it's cool but why'd you give him my hairstyle?" Ventus asked.

"He wanted it." Aqua said, "Sora did too but after we cut it, it started sticking up in random spots and he wanted to keep it like that."

"Who else is coming to this dinner?"

"Ansem and his wife." Aqua said.

"Oh, when do you go back to work?"

"Sunday."

"Oh, who did you-"

"Alright Ventus, your starting to sound like Roxas." Aqua said, she walked out of the kitchen again.

"Huh?" Ventus called after her, what could she possibly mean by that?

"You never taught us to play." Sora said, "Can we do that?"

"Can you stop talking like a robot?" Ventus asked.

"What's a robot?" Roxas asked. Ventus sighed and finished his cake. Why was this day taking so long to end? He stood up and put his dish into the sink. Roxas and Sora jumped up and stood next to them, "Where are we going?" he asked.

"Well, I'm going to take a bath, you two can sit in my room and wait for me." Ventus said.

"I want a bath, does it taste good?" Sora asked.

"It's not a food, it's how we get clean. I'm sure you took some back at the labs." Ventus said.

"No…" Sora said slowly. Ventus sighed, he would have to give them a bath eventually.

"Alright, let's go." he went up the stairs and over to the bathroom, "You sure you haven't taken a bath before? I mean how would you get clean?" he asked.

"Clean… oh Vexen gives us showers." Sora said. Ventus shivered at the thought, Vexen was probably some pervert who touched them inappropriately, and the boys, they didn't know any better because no one had taught them that people shouldn't touch them like that.

Ventus started the bath water and closed the drain. "Well, this is a lot more fun." he said, he poured a little bubble bath In and watched the bubbles form. "It's almost ready, why don't you just start getting undressed." he said. The boys nodded and started to undress.

"What's that stuff?" Roxas asked.

"Bubbles, they're fun." Ventus scooped some out and blew them in his face, "See?" He turned off the water, "Okay that should be good, get in." The boys just stood and stared at the water. "Come on, get in." he said impatiently.

Sora shook his head, "Why do we need to?" he asked.

"So you can get clean, come on.

"Will you get in with us?" Roxas asked.

"Uh… no." Ventus said, "Come on, Aqua's dinner is In two hours, if we don't get our baths out of the way now we'll never get one."

"So if you get in with us it won't take as long." Roxas said. Sora nodded in agreement. Ventus sighed and nodded, he would do it, but just this once.

"Alright, but we're only doing this once." he said. He took off his clothes and got into the tub with them. It didn't take long for them to start splashing him and throwing bubbles in his face. He sighed and tried to get himself a little clean, "stop splashing, aqua doesn't like water on the floor." he said.

"Is this fun Ventus?" Sora asked.

"Would you like to do it again?" Ventus asked.

"Yes

"Then yes, your having fun." Ventus said.

"I never had fun before." Sora said.

"Me neither." Roxas agreed.

"Glad your having fun." Ventus mumbled. He looked at both boys and noticed they weren't smiling. They didn't sound like they were having fun either. "Are you guys uh upset or something?" Ventus asked.

"No… I thought we were having fun.

"Well you are, it's just… well most people smile when they have fun." Ventus said.

"What is a smile?" Sora asked.

"This," Ventus smiled, "Have you ever seen this before?" Sora shook his head, "Really? Alright, give it a try." Sora and Roxas turned their lips up into creepy half smiles. Ventus laughed, "Okay, almost." Their smiles disappeared.

They continued to play when the door opened, "Oh my god!" aqua squealed, "I was right to bring the camera!" she started snapping pictures.

"Aqua! Cut it out!" Ventus covered his face, "stop!"

"Smile for the camera boys!" she laughed. Sora and Roxas showed their smiles, which didn't look as creepy the second time, "Adorable." she stopped taking pictures, "Oh don't look so mad Ventus."

"Was it your plan to do this? You made them beg me to get in the tub just so you could take pictures." Ventus accused, "You are EVIL!"

"Yeah I guess, but it wasn't my idea. Just heard them in the tub and thought to take pictures." She said.

"Of naked children? You know that's child porn." Ventus joked

"What's a porn?" Roxas asked.

"Ventus! Watch what you say around them." Aqua scolded.

"Well? What is it?" Sora asked.

"Grown up stuff." Aqua said, she turned and left the room. Ventus sighed, he knew what would happen next.

"Are you a grown up Ventus?" Roxas asked.

"Not really."

"Is Aqua?" Sora asked

"Yes."

"Are we?" Roxas asked

"No."

"Why not?" Sora asked

"You're just little kids."

"What's the difference?" Roxas asked

"Later, okay? Like tomorrow later." Ventus said, "Just hold in your questions until tomorrow, I'll answer them all then." Roxas looked at him, he opened and closed his mouth several times. "What is it?"

"When's tomorrow?" he asked.

Ventus sighed, "When you wake up." he finished washing himself then reached for the towels stacked near the toilet. "It's time to get out." he said.

"But I don't want to get out." Roxas said.

"Yes, we are having fun." Sora said.

"You can't stay in all day." Ventus said, "We have to get you dried up and stuff for the dinner."

"Can we get back in after dinner?" Sora asked.

"No, but tomorrow you can." Ventus said, he stood up and wrapped a towel around himself. He couldn't believe he left his clothes in his room. He had to get out of the bathroom without Aqua seeing him. "Alright, come on. Grab a towel and wrap it around yourself like me, we need to get to my room." he said. The boys nodded and got out of the tub. They took the towels and followed Ventus' instructions before looking up and waiting.

Ventus opened the door and peeked out. The coast was clear, he slowly walked out, the boys followed him out. He hurried to the room and closed the door. "We made it." he said.

"We forgot our clothes." Roxas said.

"We put on different ones. Look in my closet, there's stuff for you in there." Ventus said. They walked over to the closet and started looking through the box on the floor. Ventus looked through the closet as well, he found something easily and went to get underwear.

"What are we going to do now?" Sora asked.

"I'm taking you to Aqua to see what she wants to do, I think you'll put on your tuxes." he said.

"so we don't put on clothes?" Roxas asked.

"No Roxas we do not, because Aqua's going to give us clothes." Sora said.

"Alright." Roxas said. They stopped looking through the box and sat on the bed.

"No, you do put on clothes, we still have to wait another hour until we start getting ready." Ventus said. He went over to the box and found some clothes, he looked even harder for some underwear they could fit. There were some smaller pairs that were still to big for them. "Oh well, it'll have to do." He dressed them up and opened the door.

"Where are we going?" Sora asked.

"Well, uh, I was going to talk to Aqua. You two can stay here if you want." Ventus said.

"We want to come with you." Sora said.

"Yeah I figured." Ventus said. He walked out of the room, "Hey Aqua! We need you."

"You don't have to yell Ven, I'm right down the hall." Aqua said, "What do you need?"

"Well, we need clothes for them. They can't keep wearing my stuff." he said.

"We'll worry about that later. I can get someone to do the measurements and buy some clothes." Aqua said, "Now I need you to go to the store for me. I have most of dinner ready but I still need chicken broth."

"How am I going to do that with these two clinging to me?" Ventus asked.

"Take them with you

"They don't like it outside."

"Fine, I'll watch them, just hurry back." Aqua handed him some money, "Maybe buy them a toy or something to keep them occupied."

"Alright." he walked out of the door only to have Sora and Roxas follow him.

"Where are we going now?" Sora asked.

"You guys have to stay here." Ventus said, "I'm going outside."

"But… we want to come with you." Roxas said.

"I'll be back in a minute. You can't come with me everywhere." he said.

"Okay…" Sora said sadly. Yes, that's right. He said something with emotion in his voice. Ventus left the house quickly and got into his car. He was going to make this trip last as long as he could. Which wouldn't be long since Aqua needed the stuff for dinner, but he would try.

0.o.0.o.0

"When is Ventus coming back?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, he said he'd come back."

"Did he leave us forever?"

"Do we have to go back to Vexen?"

"Why do we have to dress like this?"

"Will Ventus dress like this too?"

"Alright, let's put a hold on the questions." Terra said, "Ventus will be back soon and yes he will dress like this." He tied Sora's tie and stood up. Ventus had gotten back a few minutes after he arrived, but they figured he needed a little time to get ready. "Why do you like Ventus so much anyway?" Terra asked.

"Because he gave us muffins, and he took us from Vexen. And he gave me pudding." Sora explained.

"Was Vexen your dad?" Terra asked.

"What's a dad?" Roxas asked.

"Huh, you don't know what a dad is?" Terra mumbled, "Well uh… someone who takes care of you until you're old enough to take care of yourself. They protect you when you're scared, they uh… teach you to play ball and stuff."

"Ventus said he was going to teach us to play." Sora said.

"Does that mean he's our dad?" Roxas asked.

"Well, I guess. I mean if you want him to be." Terra said.

"Do dad's come back home when they leave?" Roxas asked.

"Most of the time…" Terra said, "But don't worry, Ventus will come back."

"Why did you dress up like the buggerman?" Roxas asked

"It's the bookyman." Sora corrected.

"Actually it's the boogeyman. And I put the mask on to scare you guys." Terra said, "It was just a little joke."

"But Aqua said jokes are funny." Sora said, "But I was only scared."

"What's funny? We got in the tub and had fun, is funny and fun the same thing?" Roxas asked.

"Oh man, how does Ven deal with you two?" Terra asked, "Look, you can ask Ventus later. Come on Aqua wants to take pictures." They left the room just as Ventus walked by.

"Hey Terra, can you help me out?" he asked.

"Ventus!" Sora and Roxas ran over to him, "I thought you wouldn't come back because Terra said that sometimes dad's don't come back."

"Uh, that's true, but you know I'm not your dad." Ventus said, "More like a brother, and brother's always come back."

"Okay." Sora let go and Roxas followed his lead, "Terra says that Aqua wants us to take pictures."

"What's a picture?" Roxas asked.

Ventus sighed, "I said hold your questions until tomorrow."

"Sorry." Roxas mumbled.

"It's fine. Now Terra, can you tie this for me?" Ventus pointed to his tie, "I can't tie it for my life."

"Is your life going to end if you don't tie it?" Roxas asked.

"Roxas…" Ventus started.

"I'll tie it Ventus." Terra said, "Why don't you kids go find Aqua."

"But I want to stay with Ventus." Sora said, "He just got back."

"You'll be with him later, right now we need to talk." Terra said, "Go on. It'll only take a second.

"How long is a second?" Sora asked.

"Ah, I don't know, they don't teach you this stuff in school." Terra mumbled, "But Aqua knows." Sora nodded and went to find her, Roxas lingered for a second. "Do you have a question Roxas?"

"Yes, What's dinner? Because you said it a lot." Roxas waited for an answer but Terra just stared down at him, mouth hanging open slightly.

"It's food time." he answered simply. Roxas nodded and ran off to find Sora. Terra looked to Ventus, "Really? Where'd you get these kids again?"

"Some weird scientist had them. They never got to go outside, I guess that's why they sound so robotic." Ventus said, "All they've ever heard is Vexen and god knows he doesn't use normal terms."

"Is that why they don't know what a dad is?"

"I guess, I'm not sure if Vexen ever really talked to them, I haven't heard them say much. Just questions. They refuse to go outside so there's not much I can do really." Ventus said. He pointed to his tie again and Terra began to tie it. "But I think if I taught them to play baseball in the backyard and took them to the park, they could play with other kids. Maybe then they'd see how everyone else talks and start talking normal."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Terra said, "I think I can help you out for a little bit, I'm here for a week or two until they ship me off again."

"Again? Where to this time?" Ventus asked.

"I don't know, they haven't told me yet." Terra mumbled, he finished with the tie and stood back.

"Is your friend, uh Zack, staying here the whole time?" Ventus asked.

"No, just for today and then he's going home." Terra said, "Come on, we better let Aqua get her pictures before Ansem gets here. You know how she get's when he's around."

"Yeah, all professional and junk." he laughed. They walked down towards the dining room.

"Perfect! All together now." She motioned for all the boys to stand together. They grouped up and Aqua snapped a few pictures, "Okay and now a big one." She set a timer on the camera and set it on the table. She ran over to the group and smiled, a few seconds later the camera flashed. "Okay sit down, Ansem just called and said he'd be here in less then five minutes."

"Alright." Ventus sat down. He turned and saw the boys fighting over the seat to his left.

"I want to sit next to Ventus." Roxas said.

"I'm older so I get to." Sora pushed Roxas away and tried to get into the seat.

"Stop!" Aqua walked over, "How long were you going to let this go on?" she asked Ventus.

"Until they discovered the forks." he said.

Aqua rolled her eyes, "Look there are two seats here. You can sit here Sora, and Roxas can sit on the other side of Ven." She lifted each boy into a seat and looked back to Ventus, "You aren't supposed to let them fight. Do you know what would happen if they got mad and decided they wouldn't talk to each other or something."

"They wouldn't talk to each other?" Ventus guessed.

"No, you would be stuck with feuding children. And we all know how much you like fighting children." Aqua said.

"Ha!" Terra sat down across form them, his friend Zack sat next to him, "My family's amazing isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah I guess.

"We're family?" Roxas asked.

"What is family?" Sora asked. Ventus sighed and put his head down. This day was taking forever. The boys chatted with Zack and Terra, mostly about nothing and five minutes later, Aqua stepped in with Ansem and his wife. "Who is she?" Sora asked.

"That's Ansem, and his wife Sophie." Terra said.

"What's a wife?" Roxas asked.

"Not now." Ventus said, "Tomorrow." Aqua sat down next to Roxas and Ansem and Sophie sat across from them.

"I don't remember these two being here last time we had a dinner." Ansem said.

"We just got here." Sora said. Ventus sucked in a breath and held it for what seemed like the whole dinner. It was filled with nothing but Roxas and Sora asking questions and Terra talking about things he didn't understand.

Finally after an hour in, he found the perfect opportunity to leave. He'd glanced down at Sora and saw his head dipping slowly. He was tired, but he was trying to fight it. He looked over at Roxas and saw him fast asleep and leaning onto Aqua. "I think I'm going to put the kids to sleep." he said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Terra said. Ventus cooped up Roxas and Sora slid out of his seat. They walked out of the dining room and Ventus felt relieved. The only thing he liked about Aqua's dinners was the food. Other then that he hated them. He was too young to understand any of the stuff they were talking about.

"Are we going to sleep?" Sora asked. Ventus nodded, "But the lights are still on." he said tiredly.

"I know, I'm just going to help you get dressed for bed. Then the lights will go off." Ventus said.

"Why don't we sleep in this?" He asked.

"Because Aqua spent a lot of money on that." Ventus answered. Sora nodded and leaned against the bed. Ventus placed Roxas on the bed and looked through his closet for something for them to sleep in. He found some shirts and turned back. "Come on, don't go to sleep yet." he said. He walked over and started to undo Sora's tie. The boy woke up and stared at him sleepily.

"Is the bookyman under the bed?" he asked.

"No." he said. He managed to get most of the tuxedo off before Sora leaned over onto him and fell asleep. "Aw man, get up Sora, we just need to take off your pants." He nudged Sora gently but the boy didn't budge. He sighed and continued to change Sora. He realized it was a lot easier to change him when he was asleep. Meaning it would be just as easy with Roxas.

He hurried and changed the boys before changing into his own pajamas. He turned off the lights and got into bed. He pulled the blanket from under them and made sure they were all underneath it. Just as he was about to fall asleep, Roxas spoke up.

"Can you check the closet for the buggerman?" he asked softly. Ventus groaned and sat up, he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon.

0.o.0.o.0

Wow, a whole lot of nothing here. I mean really, I did a horrible job. Bu the next chapter will make up for it. It's in Roxas' point of view, simply because Ventus is at school and I'm not ready to bring his social life into the story yet. R&R


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Roxas woke up and looked around. He saw Sora curled under the blanket on the other side of the bed, but no Ventus between them. He immediately began to panic. "Sora!" he crawled over and shook his little brother awake, "Ventus is gone." he said.

Sora sat up quickly, "Where?" he asked.

Roxas shrugged, "I think the buggerman took him under the bed." he said, "We have to save him."

"But what if he takes us too?" Sora asked. They stared at each other for a second before getting out of bed slowly. They stared down at the space separating the floor and their bed, "Maybe we should get Terra to help out." Sora suggested.

"No time! We need to save him before he eats Ventus." Roxas said. Sora nodded and they both bent down. He lifted the blanket and peeked underneath.

"He's not there." he said. They stood up and walked towards the door. As Sora reached for the handle, the door opened, revealing Ventus. "Ventus! I thought you got taken by the bookyman." Sora said.

Ventus sighed, "I told last night he isn't real." he said.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Roxas asked, "I thought you said we don't wear special clothes all the time."

"We don't, this is my school uniform." Ventus said.

"School?" Roxas questioned.

"A place we go to learn stuff." Ventus explained.

"Is it fun?" Sora asked.

"Sometimes, but not really." Ventus started to search his room for his schoolbooks. Roxas watched him move and then realized he didn't have good clothes on like Ventus. Ventus found his books and walked out of the room, Roxas then realized he wasn't taking them with him.

"Ventus! I want to come." he called after him.

"I'm not taking you to school with me!" he said from the bottom of the stairs. Sora and Roxas hurried down the stairs and grabbed his legs.

"Why do you keep leaving?" Sora asked, "Why won't you take us with you?"

"Aqua!" Ventus yelled, "A little help." Aqua came out of the kitchen and saw the boys.

"Oh right, I called a babysitter, he's on his way." she said

"Well can you get them off of me?" he asked, "I don't want to miss my bus."

"You still have half an hour until you need to go, what's the rush?" Aqua asked. Ventus didn't answer he just looked away. "See, you can hang out with them a little bit-" the doorbell rang and Aqua walked over, "He's here." She opened the door and a boy walked in. He looked young, and familiar to.

Roxas stared up at the two boys, "Who's that?" he asked.

"Yes Aqua, who's this?" Ventus asked.

"Come on Ven, I know you still remembered me. It hasn't been that long, just uh… 9 years?" the boy said, "Yeah, I was 6 when it happened." Roxas looked over to Ventus, he looked deep in thought.

"Right, TJ." he muttered, "Why'd you pick him Aqua? He's younger then me."

"Just by one year." TJ said.

"Shouldn't you be in school or something?" Ventus asked, "You're only 15."

"Well, I just moved here, and the school year ended already where I'm from." TJ said with a shrug, "Aqua called and said you needed help."

"Yeah, no offense TJ, but I don't think you can handle them." Ventus said.

"Oh, come one. How hard could it be? I won't be alone, Aqua said Terra would be here some of the time and so would she." TJ said, "I'm good at this, I watched my neighbors kids all the time."

Ventus glared at the boy for a while before turning to Roxas and Sora.

"Okay, guys this is your _cousin TJ." he said, Roxas noticed the way he said cousin was different from the way he said everything else, "He's going to be watching you while I'm at school." Roxas continued to watch Ventus, he looked unhappy. And this TJ person was the cause of it, so why was Ventus trying to leave them with him._

_Roxas shook his head, "I don't want to stay with him." he said. Sora remained quiet, but Roxas knew he didn't want to either._

"_Sorry, not much I can do now." Ventus muttered. He walked out of the house without another word. Roxas turned to Aqua who seemed ready to leave as well._

"_You're leaving too?" he asked sadly._

_Aqua bit her lip, "Sorry, I need to check on the restaurant. I'll be back in a few hours." she said. She rushed out of the house and Roxas looked back to TJ._

"_Alright, what should we do?" TJ asked._

"_Can we go get Ventus?" Sora asked._

"_Sorry, we can't he'll be back though so we can wait." TJ said, "I bet you guys are hungry." Roxas stared up at TJ and suddenly felt his face get warm. He was starting to cry; he wiped his face and sniffled._

"_I want Ventus!" he cried._

_Sora gave his brother a hug, "TJ says he's coming back." he said, "So you don't need to cry."_

"_B-but he keeps leaving, he doesn't like us." Roxas wept on his brothers shoulders until TJ picked him up. _

"_Hey, don't cry kid." he walked into the kitchen and set him down in a chair, "He likes you just fine, he just had to leave and you couldn't come."_

_Roxas nodded, "Why doesn't he like you?" he asked._

"_Oh, well. It's not really me he doesn't like. Just my parents." TJ said, "But enough of that. I'll get you something to eat and then we can find you something to wear so we can go out."_

"_Out?" Sora repeated, he stepped into the kitchen and climbed into the seat next to Roxas, "We don't want to go out."_

"_Why not?" TJ asked._

"_It's scary out there…" Roxas said._

"_No it's not; Ventus goes out there a lot so it can't be that scary. Plus you can meet other kids to play with." TJ said, "You'll see." Roxas looked to Sora and then back down at the table, if they went out, they could find Ventus._

"_We don't know how to play." Roxas said._

"_Well it doesn't take much, the kids can teach you." TJ said, he began looking through the fridge for some food. "You guys like cereal?"_

"_Cereal?" Sora asked._

"_Oh that's right, you guys don't know anything." TJ said. He took out the carton of milk and a few bowls, "This is Ventus' favorite cereal, it's called Coco Puffs." he showed them the box, "It's chocolate." TJ fixed them both a bowl and placed it in front of them. "Go on and eat, I'll go find something for you to wear."_

_They started eating and TJ left the room, "I don't like him." Roxas said as soon as he left, "And Ventus doesn't either."_

"_He's not bad, and Aqua called him." Sora said, "She would not call him if he was bad."_

"_But he's making us go outside." Roxas said._

"_I think we should go, because then Ventus will be able to take us more places." Sora said, "If we stop being scared of outside."_

"_Yeah but, what if Vexen comes to take us?" Roxas said._

"_He can't, Ventus said so." Sora said. They continued to eat, " I bet when Ventus comes back, he'll be happy that we can go places with him."_

_TJ came back with some clothes, "Ventus was really small as a kid wasn't he?" he said to no one in particular. "I think we should wait until at least noon, that's when the playground will be full."_

"_When's noon?" Roxas asked._

"_A few hours from now, but until then, what do you want to do?" TJ asked._

"_I wan to draw a picture with color pens for Ventus." Sora said._

"_Alright, I brought crayons so we can do that when your done eating." TJ went into the living room and retrieved his bag, "Anything else?"_

"_No, and I finished my cereal." Sora said._

"_Me too." Roxas stuffed the last few bits into his mouth and slurped down the milk. TJ took the bowls and placed them in the sink. He placed some paper and crayons in front of the boys and sat down. "I'm going to draw Ventus."_

"_Me too." Sora said. They each picked up crayons and started to draw, "How do they get color in these?" he asked._

"_I don't know, but I bet Ventus does." TJ said. The boys accepted the answer and continued to draw. Roxas glanced up at TJ every now and then. TJ wasn't doing much, just staring absently into space, waiting for the kids to ask another question._

"_So Mr. TJ… what's outside?" Roxas asked, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to go. When they had first come to Ventus' house, it was scary. It was bright, it was loud and they got into the big rumbly machine. He didn't want to do that again. Buy he figured if Ventus could go out without being scared he could too._

"_Um, playgrounds, where most kids go to play… uh stores, schools and other stuff. I can't really think of much now." TJ said with a shrug, "But I'm sure you'll like it." Roxas nodded, still not trusting TJ._

"_How many people are out there?" he asked._

"_Not too many. Most people are at work or in school." TJ said. Roxas looked to Sora who was doodling absently. Roxas turned back to his picture and continued to draw. TJ got up and went somewhere else again._

"_What time is noon again?" Roxas asked._

"_I don't know…" Sora mumbled. Neither of them knew how to tell time. "I bet TJ can teach us." Sora suggested._

"_NO, Ventus has to do it." Roxas said, "He has to teach us stuff."_

"_But Ventus isn't here." Sora said, "How can we tell when noon is if we don't know how to tell time?"_

"_We don't need to tell time." Roxas said, "It won't help us at all." Roxas didn't understand how Sora could settle with having TJ teach them things, he probably would teach them wrong. That's why Ventus didn't like him, he was… what's the word? Stupid. And TJ was trying to make them stupid, and then Ventus wouldn't want them either. Roxas decided immediately that he didn't like TJ as long as Ventus didn't._

_X.x.X.x.X_

_They were outside, as hard as it was to believe, they were outside. Without Ventus. As scared as Roxas was, he refused to hold TJ's hand. Of course Sora had no problem with it. Roxas frowned deeply, Ventus wouldn't like Sora anymore. He couldn't let that happen to his brother, but from what he could see, Sora was too scared to let go of TJ. "How long until the playground?" Roxas asked quietly._

"_It's only a few feet away." TJ said, he pointed at a mess of colorful poles. There were tubes that twisted around and there were ladders everywhere. The ground was blue, with red and yellow dots everywhere. Roxas thought it looked strange, especially since it was so bright. Then there were kids, only a few of them but enough of them to get Roxas excited._

"_Look Sora! More kids." He said, he'd never actually seen any other kids. It was always just him and Sora._

_Sora opened his eyes and saw his brother staring wide-eyed at the playground, not in fear though, he actually looked happy. Sora looked to the playground and saw the other children. "We get to play with them?" He asked, he slowly let go of TJ's hand but stayed close to him._

"_Yeah, it'll be fun." TJ said._

_Roxas felt the urge to rush forward and say "HI!" to as many kids as he could find, but he wasn't comfortable enough to leave Sora alone with TJ. They reached the playground and Roxas stepped forward cautiously, 'Come on Sora." he said "Don't you want to play?"_

"_Yes, I do." Sora mumbled, he stepped forward and stood next to Roxas and glanced back at TJ, "You won't leave us will you?" he asked._

"_No, I'll be sitting there if you need me." TJ said, he pointed to a bench and walked over. Roxas looked to Sora and back to the playground._

"_Come on, we can meet people." he said, "So we can play with them when Ventus is gone." They walked forward and into the playground. Almost immediately, two girls skipped over to them. One was holding flowers, this one had red hair and a white dress on, and it was lined with ruffles at the bottom and pink flowers. She had blue eyes that were a little brighter then Sora's._

_The other girl had a white dress on, her eyes were similar to the other girls, the only difference was that she had blonde hair. "Hi, I'm Kairi." The red headed girl said, "and this is my sister Namine."_

"_I'm Sora, and this is Roxas." Sora said, "We haven't been here before."_

"_Really?" Kairi asked, "You just moved here?"_

"_Uh huh." Sora nodded._

"_We could play together, Riku isn't here today." Kairi said._

"_Who's Riku?" Roxas asked._

"_He's our friend, but he's sick." Kairi said with a frown, "But I picked flowers for him." Kairi waved the flowers in Roxas' face. A few petals flew off and the flower wilted a little, "Whoops, I think I broke it."_

"_Does that mean you can't give them to Riku?" Sora asked._

"_Well there's a bunch more around here." Kairi said, she pointed to a big felid of colorful flowers, "I can pick more before we leave."_

"_Okay, what will we play?" Sora asked._

"_Um, we usually play hide and seek. Riku is always it because he doesn't blend in with anything." Kairi said._

"_What's hide and seek?" Roxas asked._

_Kairi gasped dramatically, "You don't know?" she asked, "Well it's the funnest game I've played so far. All you have to do is hide somewhere, and Namine will try to find you. Now let's go hide, Namine, count to 30." Kairi ran away and Sora and Roxas watched after her, where could they hide? They looked to Namine; she was standing with her hands over her eyes._

"_One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…"_

"_Sora, what's a miss-is-sippy?" Roxas asked. Sora shrugged and continued to watch. They continued to watch Namine until Kairi came back._

"_What are you doing?" she asked, "Your supposed to be hiding."_

"_Yeah but, she was saying some stuff." Roxas said._

"_Yeah, um she's counting; now go hide before she gets to thirty." Kairi said. She pulled the boys along with her, "You guys are horrible at this game."_

"_What do we do now?" Sora asked after Kairi stooped, they were behind one of the tubes. _

"_Well, nothing. We have to wait and hope Nami won't find us." Kairi said._

"_Nami?" Roxas asked, "Who's that?"_

"_Namine. I call her Nami sometimes." Kairi said. Roxas looked confused for a minute before nodded. He guessed it was okay to call people by something other then their name. Aqua called Ventus Ven all the time. "So where did you come from?" Kairi asked._

"_Ventus' house." Roxas answered._

"_Oh, is Ventus your dad?" Kairi asked._

"_Yes." Sora said with a nod._

"_Where is he?" she asked. _

"_At school." Roxas said._

"_No, growed ups don't go to school. They go to work. So they can buy stuff." Kairi said._

"_Well Ventus isn't a growed up! He's still a kid." Roxas said._

"_Then he's not your dad 'cuz dad's can't be kids." Kairi said._

"_Yes they can!" Roxas said. Kairi just shook her head and turned to Sora._

"_How long until Namine finds us? I bet she isn't even over here." Kairi said. Sora and Kairi began to converse while Roxas sat with his arms crossed. He'd decided that he didn't like Kairi because she talked about Ventus. He didn't understand how Sora could sit and talk to her._

_Roxas glanced around the park, maybe he could go play with someone else. TJ never said he had to play with one person the whole time. He spotted two boys sitting in the grass near the flowers. One had red hair that kind of reminded him of Kairi's, except it was spiked up. The other had blonde hair that was also spiked up. _

_Roxas looked back to Sora and Kairi before creeping off towards the boys. They were huddled together and there was smoke between them. "Hey, what're you doing?" Roxas asked as he reached them._

_The blonde boy jumped and looked up, "Who are you?" he asked, "I've never seen you here before."_

"_Uh… I'm Roxas."_

"_Roxas? That's a weird name. Kind of like this one here, his names Demyx." the red headed boy said._

"_My names not weird." the boy, Demyx, snapped, "It's unique."_

"_Yeah, unique, whatever," the red head turned to Roxas, "My name is Axel. I'm the oldest one here so you have to listen to me."_

"_How old are you?" Roxas asked, "I'm 5."_

"_5? Well I'm 8 years old." Axel said, "I'm skipping school to hang out with Demyx here." Roxas looked at the smoke between them, "Oh this? I was setting leaves on fire with this." Axel held out a metal item. It was shiny, really shiny. Axel opened it up and showed him the fire._

_Roxas watched it until the wind blew it out, "How'd you do that?" he asked. _

"_Oh, it's a lighter. It makes fire, that's its job." Axel said. Roxas nodded and looked down at the leave on the ground. They weren't completely burned but Roxas could see they were a little charred._

"_Hey! All our names have X's in them. Isn't that cool?" Demyx said happily._

"_Yeah sure." Axel said, "Now Roxas, you better get away before your parents see you hanging out with me. I'm sure they won't like it."_

"_My parents aren't here. Just my cousin, and I don't like him so I don't care what he says." Roxas said._

"_Axel, he's a bad boy already!" Demyx laughed, "Can he stay?"_

_Axel stared at him before nodding, "But first, a little initiation." Axel smirked, he pressed the lighter into Roxas' hands, "Go burn something. Like…" Axel looked around for something, "That! Go burn that piece of paper."_

"_A piece of paper? I had to burn a person!" Demyx said, "That's unfair."_

"_Shut up Demyx." Axel snapped. He pushed Roxas forward, "Now go and hurry up."_

_Roxas nodded and started walking towards the paper. It was lying on one of the benches; he grabbed it and opened the lighter, remembering to do everything Axel had done. He'd just set the paper on fire when someone smacked the paper out of his hands. "Roxas, you don't play with fire." It was TJ. Roxas frowned and looked over._

"_I wasn't playing with it, I was just setting the paper on fire." he said._

"_It doesn't matter. It's time to go home." TJ said, he sounded angry, "Where's Sora?"_

"_I don't want to go home." Roxas said, "I want to stay out here."_

"_Well we're going home." TJ grabbed his arm and started walking though the park, "Sora! Come on, we have to go!" Roxas looked back at Axel and Demyx before looking down at the lighter still clutched in his hands. He slipped it into his pocket and pulled his hand away from TJ. "Stop being like this Roxas." TJ said._

"_Like what?" he asked as Sora walked over._

"_Like a- never mind." TJ led the boys out of the park, "You're going to be in trouble Roxas, Ventus won't be happy." Roxas frowned and looked down; he wasn't going to be in trouble because he hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe he'd tell Ventus that he didn't like TJ and then Ventus would stay with them instead of TJ._

_They walked into their home and Roxas walked up the stairs into Ventus' room. He would just take a nap until Ventus got home. He crawled into bed and curled up on top of a pillow. He closed his eyes and slipped his hand into his pocket, he rubbed the surface of the lighter until he drifted off._

_0.o.0.o.0_

_Okay, the end. The first day outside did not plan out how I wanted it too, but at least they met friends? And they're not scared… well they're not as scared of the outside. I don't think I got Kairi right but that's not important at the moment. I know Ventus was in an orphanage so you're probably wondering why he has a cousin. There is a reason for it; it comes up later, maybe next chapter. So, review and tell me what you think._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"A what… What's a pineapple?" Roxas asked. Ventus pointed to a row of fruits and Roxas gasped, "It's pointy." He observed.

"Do we eat it?" Sora asked.

"Just the inside, the outside doesn't taste too good." Ventus said. Sora and Roxas walked over to the pineapple stand and reached for one. "Hey don't touch it…" Ventus started, but it was too late. The pineapple they reached for was at the bottom of the pile, and once they grabbed it, they entire pile tumbled down onto the ground.

"Ventus, can we get them all?" Sora asked.

"No, we came here to get vegetables." Ventus said. Aqua had sent him to the store for one reason, to get a yellow pepper and some onions. She didn't give him enough for pineapples or anything else the boys found amusing.

"But we never had pineapple before." Roxas mumbled. Ventus shrugged and began picking up the fallen fruits. He turned to Roxas and noticed him attempting to hide a pineapple under his shirt.

"Roxas… what are you doing?" he asked. Roxas dropped the pineapple and put his hands behind his back.

"Nothing." He said quickly.

"Nothing?" Ventus repeated slowly. He knew exactly what Roxas was trying to do, steal the pineapple. But he himself didn't know what to do. Should he yell at him? That would just make him cry… Maybe he'd tell Aqua and she could make him sit in her office for a few minutes. "You were trying to steal that pineapple."

"No, Axel says it's called borrowing, people borrow stuff all the time." Roxas said. Ventus sighed; Roxas had used this Axel kid's name about twenty times since he got home. He wasn't sure who this kid was but he knew it wasn't a good idea for Roxas to be with him. "I was going to give it back too."

"When? After you ate it?" Ventus asked. He picked the pineapple up and placed it on the stand, "Who's this Axel kid anyway?"

"I know!" Sora said, "He's this boy at the park, Roxas burned stuff with him when we went the first time." Ventus nodded, he remembered TJ mentioning something about fire, but at the time, Ventus hadn't been in a listening mood.

What should he do? "Let's go find the yellow peppers. You guys know what yellow is right?" Ventus mumbled. The boys nodded and ran off to find the yellow pepper, he probably should have told them what one looked like, but by the time he thought of it, they were gone. Ventus moved forward to the yellow peppers. He half expected to see them there, reaching into the pile. But they weren't they were gone.

His first thought was that they'd been kidnapped. That wouldn't sit too well with Aqua… so he had to find them. "Sora… Roxas?" He called. But he didn't see them. He saw several kids with their parents, but not Sora and Roxas. "Oh crap…" he muttered. Now they were lost.

"Look Roxas, muffins!" he suddenly heard Sora yell. He sighed in relief; at least he knew where they were now. His relief, however, was short-lived; he still had to go get them. He knew there was going to be a problem once he found them, so he rushed to the bakery.

"Hey! Don't touch those!" he shouted, but it was too late. Sora and Roxas were seated comfortably on the floor with several banana nut muffins. To his despair, they were already eating them. He rushed over and took the muffins. "Oh man… I don't have money to pay for these." He mumbled to himself.

"Excuse me sir, you have to pay for those." Someone said. Ventus stiffened up immediately, he knew that voice. He turned around to see Vanitas, from his Geometry class. "Well now, if it isn't Ventus…" Vanitas smirked, "I thought you were rich, why are you stealing?"

"Borrowing!" Roxas corrected.

"Roxas, just be quiet." Ventus sighed, "We were not stealing. They just got a little excited; they've never been to a store before."

"That's beside the point; you now owe 4.95 for those muffins." Vanitas said. Ventus was sure that Vanitas upped the price a little, but that didn't matter. He still didn't have enough for them.

"Yeah I'll pay." He muttered. He took a few bills from his pocket and handed them over.

"You're a dollar short." Vanitas said. Ventus stared at them money he just handed Vanitas.

"That's 10 right there, you said the muffins were only 4.95." Ventus said.

"Yeah but then there's the Vanitas-is-annoyed fee." Vanitas said, he pushed the money into his pockets and held out his hand, "Well?"

"No way am I paying you extra! Give me back my money." Ventus said. Vanitas leaned back against the counter and yawned. Ventus almost growled, "Come on guys we have to go." Ventus mentally cursed himself for handing Vanitas all the money.

He set the pepper down and they left the store, "We forgot the stuff." Sora said. Ventus got in the car and let his head fall onto the steering wheel. Why had he taken them again? Now he'd have to make a second trip.

"Come on." He said, noticing Sora hadn't gotten into the car.

"But Roxas isn't here." He said.

Ventus slammed his fist against the wheel and blew the horn. Sora jumped and back away from the car. "Where is he?" Ventus asked.

Sora shrugged. Ventus looked back towards the store and saw Roxas rushing to the car… with something large under his shirt. "Oh no…" he mumbled.

"Ventus! Borrowed a watermelon!" he shouted.

X.x.X.x.X

Just something short since I haven't updated, I know it skips a few days but who cares? Just review, I'll try to get next chapter out soon.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The week had been long, slow, and painful. Ventus found himself exhausted before the clock even struck 5. The boys were wearing him out. The questions still came, but thankfully, there weren't as many. Tj took them to the park everyday and told him they were developing well.

Speaking of TJ, Ventus hated the boy with a passion. He was horrible; he seemed to know everything and even had the nerve to try to correct him on his parenting skills. Usually he wouldn't be unsettled by that, he was only a kid after all, but when TJ did it it was wrong. TJ was a year younger then him and Ventus could argue that he knew more about kids then his cousin would ever know. Ventus looked up and sighed, he leaned back in his chair and gazed intently at the ceiling. He couldn't believe TJ was back in his life. When they'd left the orphanage, Aqua promised him he'd never have to deal with the boy who'd betrayed him ever again. Yet she went behind his back and hired him, out of all the more qualified people, to baby-sit. He had a feeling she was trying to fix their broken relationship, but he refused to let that happen, not until he came to terms with what had happened anyway.

"Ventus, Kairi says the moon is made of cheese and has space cows, is that true?" Sora asked.

"No, the moon is a giant rock." Ventus answered automatically. He'd become used to answering their many questions, most of which involved yes or no answers. In truth, he was a little worried about Roxas. He was involved with the wrong people and Ventus did not want his life to sour before it'd even begun. Axel and Demyx were bad influences, though it seemed Axel was the ring leader in the bunch. A forth grader, why was he hanging out with 5 year olds?

"Can we go see Vanitas?" Roxas asked. He had no idea what had made the boys like Vanitas so much, he was so annoying. Yet every time he took them to the store, they hunted him down and showered him with hugs.

"Not today Roxas." Ventus leaned forward and stared down at his homework, it was almost done, yet he couldn't get himself to finish it.

"It's only 3; can we go to the park?" Sora asked. Ventus glanced at his watch.

"Its 5:00 Sora." he said, "But I guess we could go for a few minutes." The boys smiled and ran off to get their shoes. They'd lived with him barely a month and they were already cured of most of their fears, except of course the boogeyman (who lived under Terra's bed). The outside world still scared them, but they were willing to put up with it, so long as they could play with their friends.

Sora had gone on for hours about his friends, Riku, Kairi, and Namine. Apparently Riku had silver hair, which Sora thought was amazing. But Ventus himself knew that Riku was one of the many children of Sephiroth, a man Aqua usually invited to her formal parties. Kairi and Namine were sisters; they lived with their grandma and her niece, Aerith. Ventus knew Aerith from his Environmental Science class. Kairi was apparently the one with the wild imagination, while Namine was the quiet one who enjoyed drawing the outrageous thoughts of her older sister. Ventus didn't mind Sora's friends. It was Roxas' he didn't like. They were just… bad.

He walked down into the kitchen and opened the fridge; he needed to get something for them to drink. "Ventus perfect," Aqua came into the kitchen, "I need you to do me a favor."

"Like what? We aren't adopting more kids are we?" he asked.

Aqua chuckled softly, "No, I just need you to get a few things from the store." she handed him a list and his eyes bulged.

"Uh Aqua? This looks like more then a few things." he pointed out, "What's all this for anyway?"

"I'm getting ready for a picnic I'm having tomorrow," she explained, "Terra is leaving again and I want to do something special for him. And since Vanitas will be there, why don't you invite him? The boys just love him."

"Yeah I noticed." Ventus muttered.

"Okay, hurry I want all this today." she said as she dug through her pockets for some money. She handed him the stack of bills and pushed him towards the door.

"Come on guys, we won't be able to stay at the playground for long, Aqua wants us to go shopping." he said.

"Oh, so we can see Vanitas?" Sora asked.

"Yes, but you need to behave, no 'borrowing'" he said.

"I don't borrow anymore," Roxas informed, "Axel says it's alright if I just take it."

"No, it's not alright to just take." Ventus said.

"But Axel does it all the time." Roxas said.

"Well, Axel's going to rot in a jail cell when he gets older." Ventus said. Roxas was silent for a moment.

"What's jail?" he asked.

"A horrible place with criminals and stuff. It's dark and… and… the boogeyman lives there." he said, "Plus you never get to see anyone."

"Not even Aqua?" Sora asked.

"Not even Aqua." Ventus confirmed.

"And Axel's going to go there?" Roxas asked. Ventus nodded, "No, that doesn't happen to people. TJ said it doesn't, bad stuff never happens to kids."

Ventus frowned; he couldn't say anything to roxas without him pulling "TJ said". It was annoying and quite frankly, TJ needed to stop saying things. "Let's go before I change my mind." he mumbled. He opened the door and walked out, closely followed by the two boys. He dug through his pockets for his keys and opened the car door.

Sora and Roxas climbed into the backseat. They started to drive and he couldn't help glancing back at them. Roxas still looked around curiously, even though he'd been in the car too many times to count. Sora just looked bored, he most likely preferred being outside to being in a car.

The drive was quick and much to his dismay; Vanitas was getting out of a car too. "Oh man, what is he doing here?" he groaned. And what was he doing here; perhaps he was kidnapping children…

"Ventus look, it's Vanitas!" The boys hurried out of their seatbelts and ran over to him. Ventus waited a minute before getting out of the car himself. He was hoping he wouldn't see Vanitas today, if he didn't he could use that as an excuse for not inviting Vanities to the picnic.

"Well hey there, Ventus." Vanitas smirked at him, "didn't expect to see you here."

"Yeah right." he mumbled, "What are you doing here?"

"You know, taking my little sister to the park." Vanitas answered, he gestured to a little girl in the backseat of his car. Ventus nodded and walked towards a bench near the park, he would wait there while the boys played.

He noticed Vanitas walking over and he sighed, "Aqua wants you to come to a picnic she's having." he mumbled.

"Aqua? The one with the blue hair? Oh yeah she's hot." Vanitas sat down next to him, "I'll bring Xion." he added.

Ventus ignored the first comment and went to the second, "I didn't know you had a sister." he said.

"Me neither, she just got here today. Some big affair thing, the mom left her on our doorstep." Vanitas said.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, it's causing a big uproar at home. I figured it'd be better to get her away from it all." Vanitas said, "Don't look at me like that, I'm not completely heartless."

"It's not that, you're just… not very open about stuff… I mean, you don't talk to anyone unless you're making fun of them." Ventus said. Vanitas was silent.

"You know those kids still annoy me; you owe me $5 for every time they gave me a hug. You owe me about… 7 billion dollars." he said.

Ventus rolled his eyes, "Yeah like you'd ever be hugged that many times. Even if there was a hugging dwarf in town."

Vanitas laughed, yes indeed he laughed, and it was strange. Vanitas never laughed. "Hugging dwarf?" he questioned, his face melted back to his usual apathetic expression, "You really are stupid aren't you?"

"Shut up." Ventus snapped, "I'm smarter then you by a mile."

"Yeah? Everyone is." Vanitas said. He fell silent again and Ventus glanced behind him. He saw Sora playing with a few kids, and Roxas was with Xion. "Why does your friend want me to come to her picnic?" Vanitas asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Ventus turned back to Vanitas, "She said the kids would love you."

Vanitas shook his head, as if unsatisfied with the answer. He stood up and walked away towards the street. Ventus felt the urge to let him stand there alone, after all Vanitas had stolen more money from him then he'd like to count. Bjut of course, he couldn't, he got up and walked over. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." Vanitas said, and for a minute it actually sounded like nothing. But Ventus knew, he'd heard it many times before at the orphanage. People there had all sorts of problems. Ventus sighed and stared down, he couldn't believe what he was doing. He was feeling sympathetic for Vanitas.

0.o.0.o.0

Okay, forgive me if there's not much Sora and Roxas. But this story has a plot and it must move along at some point. So I was thinking about the romance factor in this story. I've never done that before so forgive me if I mess up. I have no one picked out for Ven but if you guys have ideas, feel free to tell me. Oh and also for those who are wondering, I will tell you what TJ did to Ven one day and can't guarantee when though. Please review, and I promise, next chapter will be full of Sora and Roxas.

Sorry for the time skips, but I can't stand doing one day at a time, hope you guys don't mind. Oh and one last thing, forgive the spelling errors, I haven't found a beta yet.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ventus sat impatiently, tapping his pencil against his desk and glancing at the clock every few seconds. Class would be ending soon, meaning he could go home. He wanted to spend as much time with Terra as possible before he left again. But of course, each minute passed incredibly slow, he had nothing to do for the next ten minutes.

He looked around the room and noticed Vanitas sitting a few seats away. He was scrawling answers onto his homework, most likely wrong answers. "Am I boring you Vanitas?"

"Uh no sir." he said, he sat up straight and looked forward. The teacher had written each of the problems from last night's homework on the board.

"Why don't you step up and do the first problem." he said. Ventus glanced down at his paper and groaned. It was covered in pictures, drawn by none other than Sora.

"I didn't do it." he said. The teacher looked disappointed as he walked over and took the paper from his desk.

"Hearts, and hm, is this who I think it is?" The teacher glanced at him, "I recognize this person anywhere." The entire class leaned forward and waited.

"Well who is it Mr. Stevens?" someone asked. Ven recognized the voice; it was Lea, the red headed boy who hung out with Vanitas sometimes.

"Well Ventus, would you tell us who it is?" Mr. Stevens placed the paper on his desk again and Ventus glanced at it. Another groan escaped his lips. It was Vanitas, a very messy picture of Vanitas. "Ventus, I gave you an order."

"It's Vanitas sir." he said. The entire class roared with laughter and Vanitas glanced up from his work. "But I didn't draw it." Ventus said, "Sora did and-"

"Aren't we a little too old to be having imaginary friends?" Mr. Stevens asked. Ventus glared at his teacher, why was it that he was hated so much?

"He's not imaginary." Ventus mumbled, "He's my little brother."

"You don't have a brother." Lea said, "You came from an orphanage." Everyone laughed again until Vanitas spoke up.

"He does have a little brother," everyone grew silent, "In fact he has two."

"How would you know?" someone asked.

"I've seen them." Vanitas said without looking up, "Now shut up." No one in class dared to disobey Vanitas. He was the worst kid in school and wasn't to be messed with. But the teacher had to press on.

"That still doesn't explain why it's on your paper Ventus." he said. Ventus glanced at the clock again, 1 minute until the bell rang.

"Why else? Those kids think Vanitas is the muffin god." Ventus muttered.

Mr. Stevens sighed, "Ventus you're a lost cause." he said. Ventus rolled his eyes and the bell rang. Everyone got up and he began to pack up, "Aqua invited me to your get-together today, I'll be sure to inform her about your behavior today." Ventus ignored him, what could he possibly tell? He hadn't done anything wrong.

Mr. Stevens walked away and Ventus stood up, he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked towards the door. "Hey Ventus, I need… never mind." Vanitas mumbled.

"What?" Ventus stopped, "What do you need?" Vanitas stood up and crumpled his homework into a ball. He glanced at the teacher before walking into the hall. Ventus followed him, "Vanitas?"

"What time does your thingy start?" he asked.

"Well, Aqua's cooking right now, so maybe at 4." Ventus said.

"Then how about you give me a ride? Me and Xion." he said lowly. He seemed to be embarrassed, as if it was the worst thing in the world to need a rode from him.

"Yeah sure, you mean now?" Ventus asked.

"You too busy?" he asked blankly.

"No, come on." Ventus walked to his class, ignoring the looks he was getting. Everyone knew how much Vanitas annoyed him; they must've found it strange that they were now walking down the hall together. "Vanitas, where's your car?" he asked.

"Long story, I don't want to talk about it." He said. Ventus rolled his eyes and walked out into the parking lot. He unlocked the doors and got in. Vanitas got in as well, right in the passenger seat. "Come on, I don't have all day."

Ventus started the car and pulled out of the school lot, "Where do you live?" he asked.

"Not important." Vanitas mumbled. Ventus raised an eyebrow, how was he supposed to get there without knowing?

"It's a little important." Ventus said, "I can't get there unless I know." Vanitas was silent and Ven sighed. "Well? You know where you live right?"

"You won't tell anybody?" Vanitas asked.

"No, I doubt anyone would want to know either." Ventus said. Vanitas glared at him.

"It's really important that you don't tell anyone." He said, "Promise?" Ven stayed silent, was he really ready to make a promise with Vanitas? They weren't friends and if the police needed to know where he lived, he'd tell. They stopped at a stop sign and Ven glanced at Vanitas.

"Yeah, I promise." He lied. He figured he could use his address as blackmail one day, after all Vanitas seemed desperate to keep it a secret.

Vanitas took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "1232 Santa Fe road…" he mumbled so low, that Ventus barely caught it. But of course, he heard it, and his eyes widened. He knew that address, he knew it somehow.

"You live…with TJ?" he questioned.

0.o.0.o.0

"Kairi says this stuff came from a cow." Sora said as he pointed to his glass of milk, "Is that true?"

"Yes, Milk can come from a lot of animals." Aqua said absently.

"Even people?" Roxas asked.

"Only the women can do it." Aqua replied.

"Like you?"

"Uh, no… not me, I can't do that. You have to have a kid first." Aqua said.

"But you have kid, you're Ventus' mommy right?" Sora asked.

"No, Ventus doesn't have mommy." Aqua said, "She left a long time ago."

"Left where?" Roxas asked. Aqua shrugged, she didn't know much about Ven's past. She knew of the situation with TJ, but that was about it.

The door opened and the boys jumped out of their seats, "Come on Aqua, Ventus is here!" Sora raced from the kitchen to find Ventus, Roxas followed quickly after. Aqua wiped her hands and went to greet Ventus as well.

"Oh, you came early." She said as she noticed Vanitas and Xion.

"Yeah." Vanitas mumbled blankly.

"Alright, why don't you make yourself comfortable, Ven and I will bring you something to eat" she said politely.

"It's fine, I'm not hungry." He said.

"Of course you are." She smiled, "How does cookies and milk sound? Come on Ven."

Ventus followed Aqua into the kitchen, "Why'd you really invite him?" he asked, "Was it really for Sora and Roxas?"

Aqua set down a plate and began to arrange the cookies on it, "I'm sure he's told you all about what's going on at home." She said, "I just think it would be a good idea for him to get away from it."

"Who told _you_?" Ventus asked.

"It was a rumor at work, but those are always true." Aqua said, "At least the ones at the office are."

"Well, he hasn't told me anything, it's none of my business." He said.

"But you boys are friends right? I'm sure he's told you a lot of things." Aqua said. She turned and reached for the glasses.

"We're not friends." Ventus said, "He's…uh, I don't know. We could never be friends."

"Why not?" Aqua asked.

"I just don't like him." Ventus said, "He's mean."

"Ventus, you don't like a lot of people." Aqua said with a sigh, "And half the time you don't even know why. Like TJ for example, why don't you like him?"

"Well his parents-"

"His parents?" Aqua interrupted, "You don't like him because of his parents? That's not very fair Ventus."

"You don't get it Aqua; he just stood by and let them do it. It wasn't fair." Ventus snapped, "I don't want anything to do with that family."

"Stop it Ven," Aqua said, "He was a kid, one younger then you, what was he supposed to do?" Ventus shrugged, he didn't know and wouldn't think about it. "Here, you take the cookies and put them in the living room." Ven took the plate and left the kitchen, Vanitas was still standing awkwardly near the door.

"Hey, come on." Ven nodded towards the living room. Ventus entered the room and found the three children on the floor, "Hey guys, Aqua made cookies." Aqua set down 5 glasses of milk and left the room.

"Aw, not nana nut muffins?" Roxas said in disappointment.

"Only I can make muffins," Vanitas said, "I'm the Muffin God."

Ventus snorted, remembering his comment from geometry class. But the boys nodded, "That's right, you are." Sora said. Ventus wanted to say that Vanitas hadn't baked a muffin before but then he remembered Vanitas worked at the bakery.

"Do people know you bake for a living?" Ventus asked curiously. He sat down on the couch and looked up at Vanitas, "Don't just stand there, it's creepy."

Vanitas reluctantly sat down and took a cookie in his hand. Ventus watched him closely, waiting for him to take a bite. He stared down at the cookie blankly and Ventus remembered what Vanitas had told him at the park the day before. He wasn't completely heartless, maybe they could be friends, after all he hadn't done anything too bad to him. "Aqua's too nice." Vanitas said finally, "I think she wants to hop in bed with me." Nope, they could never be friends.

"Just eat your cookie." Ventus snapped.

"What's wrong Venny? Are you in love with Aqua?" Vanitas asked.

"Shut up, she's like… my mom."

"No, Aqua said she's not your mommy, you don't have a mommy." Roxas said. Ventus turned his eyes down to Roxas, why would she tell him that? "And Aqua says not to say shut up."

"I'll say whatever I want to." Ventus said.

"Well I'll tell Aqua!" Roxas said, "And you won't get no dessert."

"Well then I'll get the boogey man to come from under Terra's bed and eat you." Ventus said. Fear quickly came over Roxas' face, but it was gone just as quick as it came.

"Well then it's gonna eat you too! We still sleep in the same bed." Roxas pointed. Which was true, even after Terra's friend had left, he couldn't get them to sleep in the guest room.

"They sleep with you?" Vanitas asked, an evil smirk forming on his lips. "Lea's going to love this."

"Oh no you don't, if you tell him about that, I'll tell him about your house!" Ventus threatened. But he instantly regretted it; his situation wasn't nearly as serious as Vanitas' was. He had no idea why it was so important to keep secret but he'd promised, even though he didn't mean it, to keep it a secret. "Never mind, forget it."

"What do you guys keep talking about?" Sora asked, "Did Aqua tell you about the ribs?"

"No." Ven mumbled.

"Well guess what, I told her about the space cows and she said that the ribs in the fridgey-box came from cows." Sora said, "I think it'd be weird to walk around without ribs. Aqua says we all have ribs. Sora lifted his shirt and sucked in his stomach, "See?"

"It's not a fridgey-box Sora; it's a refrigerator, or a fridge." Ventus corrected.

"Hey Sora guess what," Vanitas said seemingly forgetting Ventus' threat, "The cow doesn't walk around after his ribs have been taken."

"Yeah Sora, I bet they get really sad after they lose their ribs." Roxas said.

"No, something else happens." Xion said quietly.

"What?" Sora asked curiously, "Do they get sick?"

"No." Xion said.

"Then what?" Roxas asked. Xion looked down nervously and didn't answer.

"They die." Vanitas said for her, "And no one ever sees them again." Ventus sighed and braced him self for the onslaught of questions.

"Ventus, why did he say that?" Sora asked, "The cows don't die do they?"

"Uh, yeah they do." Ven said.

"What… can't they take his ribs away without killing him?" Sora asked, "Then everyone can be happy."

"No, that wouldn't be a good idea." Ventus glanced at Vanitas, who seemed to be very amused. "Wipe that smirk off your face it's not funny."

"Hey you can't talk to him like that! He makes muffins!" Roxas said, "Right Vanitas?"

"Yeah." Vanitas said with a nod. Aqua came back into the living room after a few minutes.

"Do you guys mind helping me with the backyard? I need someone to help with the grill and someone to set up chairs and tables." she said.

"Where's Terra?" Ventus asked as he stood up. Aqua shrugged.

"Come on, let's go." she left the room and the boys followed. Ventus followed her into the garage and groaned when he saw the amount of chairs he needed to move.

"How many people did you invite?" he asked.

"Just 43, our back yard is big enough, but Sephiroth is bringing his boys and a lot of other people are bringing their kids. Speaking of kids, maybe we should have something for them to do. Maybe a ball, but I don't want them kicking it to the wrong place. Maybe chalk… no there's no place back there for them to draw. Hmm, Ven you decide." Aqua said, "And Vanitas, you help me with the grill, it's really heavy."

"Can we help Aqua?" Roxas asked from the door, we can carry chairs."

"Of course you can." she smiled. Ventus started to pick up a few chairs; he knew that when Aqua said one number, you should expect at least 30 more coming. He groaned silently, things like this meant the entire town would be in their backyard for hours; they'd walk in and out of the house and let in bugs. They'd get their gross foot prints all over the carpet and even worse, there were always those few who got outrageously drunk. They were amusing to watch but they were dangerous when in that state and you couldn't have kids around that.

"Look Venny, we're carrying chairs like you." Roxas said, "Except Xion, she's just standing there." Ventus glanced back at the girl; she was standing nervously in the doorway, probably feeling out of place. Of course he would too if he'd just been dumped on some strangers doorstep. A chilling thought ran through his mind, he _had _been dumped on some stranger's doorstep. The reason was different, but it was still hard to deal with at his age, especially since he hadn't had anyone. Well, he had TJ, who he had to admit had been helpful at the time.

He dropped the chairs in the backyard and went back for more; he passed Roxas and Sora on the way. They were only halfway to the door. He walked in and saw Xion sitting on one of the chairs. "Hey, uh… what's wrong?" he asked.

Xion looked up, she had blue eyes. "I want to go home." she said.

"This is your home now isn't it?" he asked. She nodded.

"But I want to go home with my real mommy." she said.

"And why can't you?" Ven asked, although he was pretty sure she didn't have an answer.

"Because her new husband doesn't want me there." she mumbled. Ventus nodded in understanding; although he wasn't sure he got it completely.

"I'm sure you'll like it here." he said, "Plus you've got Vanitas right?"

"Yeah but, his mommy doesn't want me there." she said.

Ventus sighed, he'd probably just made it worse, "How about we forget all that today? You'll have fun here I promise." he said.

"Forget?" she repeated. Ventus stood up and grabbed a few more chairs, leaving the girl to think about it.

0.o.0.o.0

Sorry, I know I promised more Sora and Roxas, but I have to end it here. Next chapter I promise for real, will have them since Kairi will be there and we all know Kairi's going to be fun to write.


	8. Thanksgiving

Special Thanksgiving chapter

"Who'd you invite this time?" Ventus asked with the slightest touch of annoyance. He was a never a fan of Aqua's dinners, they always required so much work. Not to mention clean up after the dinner was horrible. He'd have to get Roxas and Sora clean, because apparently those two could not eat a decent meal without spilling it all over themselves. He'd also have to do the dishes, since it was Aqua cooked, she figured he could at least clean. He'd have to stop cleaning to make Sora and Roxas go to bed, he'd have to stay with them until they fell asleep because if they blinked and saw him gone, they'd freak out. There was just too much involved for his liking.

"Not too many people." Aqua said. But she _always_ said that. "Just us actually and Vanitas and Xion, oh and TJ's parents are of town so him too."

"Really? Just them?" Ventus scratched his head and nodded, that sounded right. "Why can't Vanitas and Xion stay home?"

"Ventus, you know why they can't, besides, I figured you and Vanitas were good friends and-"

"Hold up! We are not friends; I just hang out with him from time to time because there's nothing else to do." Ventus said defensively.

"Yes of course," Aqua said, "But still, they're like family now." Ventus rolled his eyes, this was some messed up family. There was Vanitas and Xion in because their parents were having a big love-affair-divorce-because-your-dumb-and-you-cheated fight, there was TJ because he hadn't been seeing eye to eye with his parents lately and was spending loads of time here, then there was Sora and Roxas because, well they were adopted they had nowhere else to go.

Ventus couldn't believe he was warming up to TJ so easily, especially after what had been done to him as a kid. He kept telling himself that it wasn't TJ's fault, even though he knew that TJ played a big part in it. "So when are they getting here?" Ventus asked.

"In an hour or so, you should be free until then." Aqua said. But as in free, she meant, you can watch the boys until I'm done. Ventus stood up and left the kitchen, he might as well try to get some sleep before the boys found him.

"Ventus!" he heard Roxas' voice and he sighed, there goes his _free_ time. "Look what I found." Roxas held out the creature, "His name is Timmy."

"Timmy." Ventus stared down at the animal in Roxas' arms, "Oh my god Roxas! Put that down!" Roxas dropped the animal.

"What's wrong?" he asked, "You don't like Timmy?"

"That was a porcupine Roxas, do you know what that is?" Ventus asked.

"Yes, it was in that book you read me, 'Pauli the porcupine loves to play, he goes to the play ground every day." Roxas recited, "Timmy's a porcupine."

"Yes and when porcupines get angry, they shoot needles." Ventus said, "And you know how it felt to get a shot right?" Roxas rubbed him arm and nodded, "So I'm guessing you wouldn't want 50 more?"

"One… two…" Roxas began to count on his fingers, "I only have ten finger Ventus."

"Yes, and trust me, 50 is a lot of shots." Ventus said, "And that's how many you would have gotten if you didn't let him go."

"Ventus, Timmy ran away." Roxas said suddenly. Ventus looked down and saw no porcupine. His eyes widened and he let out a string of curses. "Ventus, I'm telling Aqua you said a swear!"

"I need to find that porcupine before Aqua finds out." Ventus said, "Roxas go upstairs and stay there." Ventus ordered.

"But I want to help you find Timmy. Aqua! Ventus won't let me find Timmy!" Roxas shouted. Ventus narrowed his eyes, Roxas always turned to Aqua when he couldn't get his way.

"Ventus let him help." Aqua replied from the kitchen. Ventus rolled his eyes, she wouldn't have said that if she knew what Timmy was, and it was a good thing she didn't.

"Fine, but don't touch him." Ventus mumbled. He pulled out his cell phone and texted Vanitas; he needed someone with a high pain tolerance around. He sighed, 6 months ago; Vanitas would have been the last person he called on for help.

"I see him Ventus! He's in the living room." Roxas ran forward and Ventus followed. He needed to trap him so Vanitas could pick it up. Who cares if he got poked along the way? Vanitas probably liked pain; he looked like he was into S&M.

He saw the porcupine crawling under a chair. He pulled Roxas back and got down on his knees. Should he go after it now or wait for Vanitas? He had to get it out of the dining room before Aqua came in to set the table. "Come on, get out." He mumbled at it. The porcupine didn't listen of course. Ventus crawled forward and reached for it, the porcupine hissed and Ventus pulled back. "Hey just get out." He snapped. He felt something push him and he ended up face first in the porcupines coat of thorns. He screamed and jumped up. He hit his head on the chair and backed away until he felt someone behind him.

This person chuckled and Ventus stopped his screaming for a second. He looked up and saw Vanitas, a part of him snapped and he plucked a thorn from his cheek and stabbed him in the arm. "you pushed me!" he shouted. He knew it was a bad idea to call him for help.

Vanitas backed away and pulled the thorn out of his arm, "It doesn't hurt that much." he said blankly. He tossed the thorn onto the ground and went for the porcupine. Ventus gently touched the thorns in his cheeks. Would it hurt if he pulled it out? He'd already pulled one out but he didin't even remember what it felt like.

Aqua entered the dining room and frowned. "What's going on?" she asked, "Ventus, what happened to your face?"

"Vanitas pushed him into Timmy." Roxas said.

"Timmy?"

"I'm guessing this is Timmy?" Vanitas held up the porcupine.

"Vanitas, you pushed him into a porcupine?" Aqua said with a sigh, "Come here Ventus, we need to get that cleaned up. And Vanitas, please get rid of the animal." Aqua took Ventus into the bathroom and pushed him down onto the toilet. She looked around for the first aid kit and sighed, "You two really need to stop fighting." she said.

"huh? I didn't do anything! I called him for help and he hurt me." Ventus said.

"Right." Aqua said. She took his chin and held his face steady. She pulled out a thorn and tossed it onto the ground, "Why did you even have a porcupine anyway? They're dangerous and they don't even live around here."

"Roxas found it not me." Ventus said, "I honestly don't know where he got it."

"What was he doing outside alone?" she asked, "You know how easily he gets lost." Aqua pulled the last of the thorns out and pulled out a cotton swab.

"Aqua, I was in the kitchen with you." Ventus said, "I can't be in two places at once."

"Well what were you doing in the kitchen? You should've been watching them, where's Sora?" Aqua asked. Ventus hesitated. Where was Sora... "Ventus..."

"It's not my fault!" he tried. Aqua pressed the cotton against his cheek and Ventus flinched. "What did you put on that?"

"Peroxide, we don't know where that Porcupine has been." Aqua said. Ventus remained silent as Aqua cleaned his face and lectured him about watching his brothers. He decided not to mention that for every minute she continued to talk, the boys were alone... or with Vanitas, which was just as bad. "Now go get them ready, dinner is almost ready."

"But you said I had an hour. It's barely been 10 minutes." Ventus said.

"Well I think it'll take an hour to get them both cleaned up in time." Aqua said, "Now go."

!look at my page break!

They sat down at the table by 5:30. Ventus stared hungrily at the turkey in the middle of the table. He waas starving! He'd decided to skip breakfast that day because he'd wanted to eat as much as he could for dinner, but Aqua was taking forever to sit down. "Alright, I want you all to say what you're thankful for." Aqua said as she took a seat, "I'll go first." Ventus rolled his eyes as Aqua listed off the things she was thankful for, her family, her job, and a bunch of other random things. "What are you thankful for Roxas?" she asked.

"Um, i'm thankful for Axel and Watermellons and chicken and Sora and Ventus and Mr. Muffin-God and Aqua and Timmy, even though Vanitas took him away, and Ventus' bed and my nighty lighty and fire and sometimes Xion and Tj and um... I think that's it." Roxas said.

"Um, alright, Sora?" The table looked to Sora. He stood up and pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He cleared his throat and began to read.

"I'm thankful for..." he paused and looked at everyone, "I am thankful for... Everything that has happened in the last 6 months because it has been the best days of my life."

"That's great Sora, what about you Xion?" aqua asked.

Xion looked away from her empty plate, "Um, I am thankful for... vanitas, because he doesn't let his parents hurt me." she said quietly. There was a long pause before Aqua looked to Vanitas.

"My turn?" he questioned. Aqua nodded and he sighed, "Well, I guess i'm thankful for you guys, because I wouldn't be eating right now if it wasn't for you."

Ventus sighed quietly, a lot had been revealed about everyone at the table during the summer. Vanitas was being as thankful as he could because without them, he'd be at home with his parents, and they'd be horrible. He sat back against his chair, what was he thankful for? After TJ finished his rant, it'd be his turn. He was definitely thankful for his family, despite how messed up it was. But that didn't seem like enough, there was more. "Wow Ventus, you really feel that way?" he heard Aqua say.

"huh?" he looked up, "I haven't said anything."

"Yes you did." Roxas said, "We all heard it."

Ventus raised an eyebrow, had he said what he was thinking out loud? "Yes, you did say it out loud." Vanitas said. Ventus smiled and dinner began. It didn't go half as bad as he'd expected, but he wouldn't have minded if it did. This was his family and he was proud of it.

X.x.X.x.X

Sorry for the delay, i've been busy. I wanted to update yesterday, this is a thanksgiving chapter after all, but I forgot. I also forgot the halloween one, but who cares, I'll put it up later. I'll definitely remember the Christmas one.

The real chapter will be up soon. Review.


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't kingdom hearts or naything related. I also can't remember to put up a disclamer...

Chapter 8

"Watch this Sora!" Riku took the soccer ball and placed it on the ground. He made sure everyone was watching him before he kicked it towards his oldest brother Loz. It missed his head by a few inches and Loz turned to them, "Watch he's going to cry!" Riku said. He smiled easily at his brother and waited for the tears to begin.

"You shouldn't make people cry." Kairi said. Riku rolled his eyes and turned away from his brother.

"But Loz is a crybaby, he needs to cry or he'll die." he tried to explain, "That's what Yazoo says."

"No, you shouldn't make people cry, and he's gonna scare you tonight when you get home and you'll go and wet the bed and get in trouble like always." Kairi said.

Riku's cheeks reddened slightly, "I don't even wet the bed anymore." he said defensively, "Right Sora?" They both turned to Sora and waited for an answer.

"Uh, yeah?" he guessed, how was he supposed to know? He'd never been to Riku's house. "Riku? What does your house look like? Is it big like this one?"

"Yeah, it's even bigger though. And we have a game room and there's a big kitchen and my dad has a trophy room because he wins a lot of medals and Loz is on the football team and Yazoo is a nerd so he gets stuff and Kadaj plays baseball." Riku said, "I'm going to get a trophy in there too. But then we have a big pool in the backyard and even more stuff."

"What's a pool?" Sora asked.

"A thingy filled with water; I can swim really well in it." Riku said.

"Stop trying to make people jealous, Sora doesn't care about pools. Right Sora?" Kairi asked.

"Right." he agreed. He hadn't even seen a pool before and he was really worried about it. "You know, I think Xion is sad." he pointed to the girl he'd met the day before.

"Namine likes her, maybe they can draw together." Kairi said, "You know Namine drew me a picture of a turkey. I told her that it had to be blue with purple hair and glitter and it needed tentacles so it could climb mountains. When she was done, it didn't look like a turkey anymore."

"Why don't you draw pictures?" Sora asked.

"You know, Namine's better." Kairi answered with a shrug, "Where's your brother?" Sora looked around the backyard and didn't see him.

"I don't know." He said, "I bet he's mad because his friends didn't show up."

"Gramma says he shouldn't play with Axel because axel is a very bad dirty boy. But he looks clean so it wouldn't matter about the dirty part." Kairi said, "But he steals a lot."

"No, Roxas says he borrows, it'd different." Sora said, "Besides, Roxas wouldn't steal."

"Borrowing and stealing is the same thing, like when Kadaj was little, he tried to steal some candy. My dad caught him and said it was wrong to steal. Kadaj tried to say he was just borrowing and dad said, 'Borrowing? It's only borrowing if you give it back, and did you plan on giving it back after you ate it?' I think Kadaj said something stupid after that, I can't remember." Riku said, "But anyway, borrowing and stealing is the same thing."

"So does that mean Roxas steals too?" Kairi asked.

"No, Roxas doesn't steal." Sora said.

"Yes he does." Riku said.

"No he doesn't." Sora said.

"Prove it." Riku said. Sora stared before turning away.

"I don't have to prove anything to you." he said, "But come on, I'll prove he doen't steal." Sora walked off in search of Roxas and Riku and Kairi followed behind.

0.o.0.o.0

Ventus' eyes scanned the backyard for Roxas, where could he have gone now? He wasn't inside, he'd checked every room. He could locate every last kid but Roxas. "What are you looking for string bean?" Vanitas asked.

"String bean?" Ventus repeated, he ignored the new name, "I'm looking for Roxas."

"Why?" Vanitas asked.

"Because he should be with the other kids and he's not." Ventus explained.

"He's right there." Vanitas pointed to his side, Roxas was standing near Terra at the grill. "You weren't looking very hard were you?"

"Whatever." Ventus mumbled. He'd really only been looking to take his mind off of Vanitas, he had so many questions that he knew Vanitas wouldn't answer. "So um..." he decided to ask anyway, "Why do you live with TJ?"

"I don't." Vanitas said.

"But that's where we went to pick up Xion." Ventus said.

"Maybe he was baby sitting." Vanitas said.

"But he was at my house babysitting." Ventus said. Vanitas looked annoyed.

"I technically still live with my parents but... TJ's parents haven't been home for a while, they're on vacation. So... I decided to stay there for a little." Vanitas said, "It's safer there then at home."

"Why didn't you ask to stay with us?" Ventus asked. The answer of course would have been no if he had asked, but still they were as close of friends as Vanitas would get.

"Because I don't like you." Vanitas said.

"What? Then why do you come here so much?" Ventus asked.

"Because Aqua keeps inviting me." Vanitas said with a shrug, "And she doesn't ask questions."

"Ventus!" Ventus looked away from Vanitas and saw Roxas running towards him. "look! Terra drawed a face on my hotdog." Ventus stared down at the hotdog and sighed.

"It looks nice Roxas." he said.

"You waqnt one? I can get him to make you one." roxas said.

"Yeah, I want one." he said. Roxas nodded and walked away. Ventus turned back to Vanitas, "What's going on with your parents?"

"None of your business." Vanitas said. Ventus rolled his eyes.

"I bet you told TJ, he wouldn't have let you stay if you didn't." Ventus said childishly, "I'll ask him."

"Why do you want to know so bad?" Vanitas snapped.

"Because I have the right to know what kind of persons been hanging around my brothers." he said.

"Well, maybe I have the right to know some stuff about you." Vanitas said, "You haven't told anyone a thing about what's wrong with you and TJ." Ventus looked away and crossed his arms over his chest. He hadn't told because it wasn't important, at least not to him.

"I'll tell you if you tell me." he said.

"What?" Vanitas norrowed his eyes, "Are you serious?" ventus nodded, although he wasn't sure if he'd be able to talk about it yet, especially with Vanitas.

"You just have to promise not to tell anyone alright?" Ventus said.  
>Vanitas was silent, perhaps he was thinking it over. A part of vetus really hoped he'd decline the offer, after all this was beginning to get way too personal for both of them. "I got you both happy hot dogs." Roxas said as he returned, "But Terra accidently drew frowny faces on them. He wrote something on your plate too."<p>

Ventus looked at the smeared ketchup, how was he supposed to read it? "I ran out of ketchup on my hotdog and I had to use yours." Of course, that explained it all.

"Thanks Roxas." Ventus took his hotdog and Vanitas did the same. Roxas sat down and started to eat. Ventus took a bite and glanced at Vanitas, he stared blankly at the hot dog. "Vanitas you don't-" he started.

"Alright." Vanitas said, "We'll do it tomorrow." he said. Ventus' heart almost stopped, how was he supposed to tell Vanitas what was going on between he and TJ? He swallowed the food in his mouth.

"You really don't have too." he said.

"You don't want to tell me?" Vanitas questioned.

"No, it's not that..." he said slowly, but it was that. He didn't want to tell anyone, but his curiosity had gotten the best of him, "Forget alright, I'll tell you." The conversation ended as Sora and his friends walked over.

"Where'd you get that hotdog Roxas?" Riku asked, " Did you borrow it?"

"No, Terra gave it to me." Roxas said.

"See, I told you!" Sora said.

"What are you guys doing?" Ventus asked.

"Sora says Roxas doesn't steal but I don't belive him because he hangs out with Axel and Axel steals all the time." Riku says, "I'm going to let it go for now."

"Yeah of course." Ventus said, "Why don't you go play somewhere else?"

"Yeah okay, but watch out. Yazoo's coming over here and he's weird." Riku said before running off, Roxas, Sora, and Kairi followed him. Just as Riku had said, his brother Yazoo walked over. Yazoo was 12 years old and there was no one in his age group at the picnic.

"Why aren't you with the other highschool kids." he asked.

"Why's it matter?" Vanitas asked.

Yazoo was silent for a minute, "You know I can read minds." he said finally, "And I know what you two are thinking."

"Go away." Vanitas said.

"Ventus, you are thinking about tomorrow and how you're going to tell Vanitas about what happened between you and TJ's dad." Yazoo said, "And Vanitas, you're thinking about how your parents-"

Vanitas reached out and grabbed the boys shirt, "Don't you dare say it. You have no right too alright?" he shook Yazoo a bit before letting him go, "Now get away, and if I ever hear you talking about what i'm thinking about, I'll rip you arms off and watch you bleed to death." Yazoo stared wide eyed before turning and running away.

"Vanitas, he's going to tell his dad!" Ventus said. Worry flicked through his eyes before he shrugged.

"What's he going to do?" Vanitas said, "He can't hurt me, he'll lose his job." Ventus glanced over to Sephiroth and quickly looked away, Yazoo was indeed telling his father what happened.

"Yeah but he'll drop Aqua as a client and then she'll be upset and-"

"Is Aqua a prostitute?" Vanitas asked suddenly.

"What? Why would you say that?" Ventus asked angrily.

"Because you said clients and sometimes prostitutes call they're customers clients. You know the regulars count as clients." Vanitas said.

"Shut up, she's not a prostitute." Ventus said.

"Don't get so offended, i'm just trying to change the subject." Vanitas said. Ventus sighed and looked away again.

"There's Xion." he pointed. They both watched Xion run over to them, a slip of paper in her hand. "I think she has something for you." Xion stopped in front of them and panted.

"Vanitas, I drew you something." she said with a smile.

"Huh? Why?" Vanitas questioned.

"Because you've been nice to me." she said. She handed him the paper and put her arms behind her back, waiting for his reaction, "Do you like it?

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's you, at the bakery! Namine let me use her crayons." Xion said. Ventus glanced at the picture, it was a blob. A black blob in an apron with points sticking out of it. It looked nothing like Vanitas, but it had his name written sloppily at the top with an arrow pointing to it.

"Oh." Vanitas said. Looked down at Xion, she was frowning now.

"You don't like it do you?" she mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"i'm sure he does like it, he's just at a loss for words." Ventus said quickly.

"Yup, i'm speechless." Vanitas murmured. He folded the picture and put it in his sweater, "Thanks."

"Your welcome!" she smiled before running off again.

"What's with kids and drawing me?" he wondered, "Am I that beautiful?"

"That's not it at all." Ventus said.

"Sure it is." Vanitas smirked, "I mean come on, look at me!"

Ventus rolled his eyes, "Your full of it." he said.

"Full of sexiness." Vanitas agreed. Ventus rolled his eyes again and heard Aqua chuckling.

"You keep rolling your eyes and they'll pop right out of your head." she said.

"Aqua, Perfect." Vanitas said, "Won't you tell Ventus i'm sexy?"

"Well, you're a very handsome boy but-"

"There you have it Ventus, i'm handsome." Vanitas said.

"But." Aqua continued, "You wear too much black, even when I see you at work your wearing black. I think you would look handsome in some blue or red." Aqua ranted and Vanitas slumped back in defeat.

"Whatever." he mumbled. Ventus chuckled and stood up.

"How much longer is this going to last?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh, well it's almost nine, so all the people who have kids should be leaving soon. The rest of the people will leave soon too." she said, "I want you to get plenty of sleep tonight, we'll be seeing Terra off in the morning alright?"

"Right." Ventus said.

0.o.0.o.0

Ventus yawned as he brought the last of the chairs into the garage, he had no idea why Aqua wouldn't let him do it in the morning. "Ventus come on, we need to take a bath." Sora said.

"I already ran the bath water, why aren't you guys in the tub?" he questioned.

"Well, I figured you were dirty too, so we have to take a bath together." Sora explained, "It'll save water, because Kairi said the worlds going dry."

"It's not." Ventus said, "Now go, I'll be there in a minute."

"you'll take a bath?" Roxas asked.

Ventus thought it over, Vanitas and Xion were still here so... no way was he going to risk Vanitas finding out. He wouldn't let him live it down, he'd also blackmail him... "Maybe." he mumbled. He heard them running off and sighed.

"Why are you breathing like that Ventus?" Roxas asked, "I breathe out of my nose, Vexen says only people who don't know how to breath through their noses breath out of their mouth. But you do both all the time."

"Bath tub Roxas, Now." he said.

"But i'm clean! I only have a little dirt on me!" Roxas said.

"Roxas, you're not getting into my bed like that." Ventus said.

"It's not fair, you're not making Vanitas and Xion take a bath." Roxas mumbled, "Or Aqua, or Terra."

"I can't make them take a bath." he said, "But I can make you, now go." Roxas puffed up his cheeks and stomped away. Ventus sighed again, what was wrong with that boy?

"You know you handled that wrong." Vanitas said.

"where'd you come from?" Ventus asked.

"You should given him a spanking." Vanitas said.

"That never works." Ventus said.

"Sure it does, my dad used to do it all the time." Vanitas said.

"And look how great you turned out." Ventus mumbled sarcastically.

"Yes, i'm great I know." Vanitas agreed, "You know Xion's spending the night."

"What? Where is she supposed to sleep?" Ventus asked.

"In the guest room? You have more then one." Vanitas said, "I'm not staying if that's what your thinking, she just can't go home right now."

"Why not?" Ventus asked.

"None of your business." Vanitas said, "I'll be leaving after she gets to sleep. And that won't be until those boys are asleep. So hurry and take a bath with them."

"Uh, i'm not taking a bath with them. 'll wash them up but i'm not getting in the tub." Ventus said defensively.

"Whatever, make them sleep so they'll leave her alone." Vanitas said, "She'll need all of her strength for the weekend."

"What's happening?" Ventus asked.

"Nothing, just paternity tests and custody battles." Vanitas said.

"but I thought none of them wanted her." Ventus said.

"The custody battles not about her, it's me they're fighting over. Dad's keeping Xion, although I doubt that's a good idea. But they'll be getting a divorce and they have to split they're assets, including me." Vanitas said, "I don't want to stay with either of them."

"I thought you were staying with TJ." Ventus said.

"Well his parents will come home at some point." Vanitas said. They exited the garage and Ventus walked into the bathroom.

"Ventus! Roxas put dirt in the water and now it's all muddy." Sora said.

"Roxas..." Ventus frowned as he stared at the brown water.

"I wanted to make chocolate." Roxas said.

"Who taught you how to make chocolate?" Vanitas asked, "I'm more then sure you don't use dirt."

"Kairi told us." Roxas said.

"Kairi's on crack, she doesn't know anything about chocolate." Vanitas said.

"Hey shut up! Kairi's the smartest person ever, you just don't like her because you can't make chocolate, just muffins and bread." Sora said.

"Vanitas, just go put Xion to bed." Ventus said. He looked back at the boys, "Come on now, out of the tub."

"But we aren't clean." Sora said.

"Who cares I'll just change the sheets tomorrow, I don't have time for all of this." Ventus got the boys out of the tub and into their pajamas. He put them into bed and tucked them in, "Now go to bed." he said with a yawn.

"Your tired?" Roxas asked, "Come on, get in bed." Ventus sighed and crawled in between them. He wasn't going to fight it, he was sleepy and he didn't care if Vanitas saw him like this. Roxas patted his head, "You've had a long day."

"Yes he has." Sora agreed, "He ate three hotdogs."

"Go to sleep." Ventus mumbled. He squeezed his eyed shut and tried to drown them out, they'd been watching too much TV.

"Look at his face, maybe he's constipated." sora said. Ventus' eyes snapped open, what? "That means he can't poop. I saw a commercial for it, these pills make you poop. Maybe Aqua should buy you some."

"Oh god... no i'm fine. I'm just really sleepy." he said. He closed his eyes again and turned away from Sora.

"You're right, he does look constipated." Roxas said. Ventus turned and put his face in a pillow. He'd stay like this until the fell asleep. He waited for a few minutes before turning over. The boys were finally asleep. He yawned and closed his eyes again. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

0.o.0.o.0

I hope this satisfies you guys. Next two chapters will be Vanitas' and Ventus' falshback junk. I might need to change the rating or something, it's rated T already so I should be fine. They'll be sad chapters, no Sora or Roxas i'm afraid, well maybe snippets.


	10. Chapter 9

Warning: Mature themes and blah, italics are flashbacks

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Kingdom hearts related

Chapter 9

"Well? You promised." Vanitas said, "Tell me what's up with you." Ventus swallowed hard, he definitely wasn't ready for this.

"TJ's dad... he sold me." he said, "To several men."

"You think this is funny? Tell me what really happened, and don't just go making shit up because you want to hear what I have to say." Vanitas said angrily.

"That _is_ what happened Vanitas. It started just after my parents died."

_Ventus walked up to the large house, he clutched the teddy bear in his arms tightly, it was the last thing he had from his parents and he didn't want to lose it. The house looked old on the outside, like one from a scary movie he'd watched. He gave the teddy bear a squeeze, he was half hoping that his mother would run up and comfort him, or his dad would help him through it, but they were gone, and they were never coming back. The social worker next to him rang the doorbell, Ventus looked away from the door just as it opened. "You're here early, come in." the woman sounded a lot like his mom. He looked up and gasped, it was his mom!_

_It must have been some joke or something, it was a pretty mean joke but he didn't care, his mother was alive and his dad probably was too. "Mommy? I thought you died." he said. His heart danced in joy as he realized he'd never be alone again._

"_Oh no, I'm not your mom... I'm her sister, we're twins." she said. Ventus frowned and looked away. Of course it wasn't her, she died and she was never coming back._

_They entered the house and Ventus sat down on the couch. The social worker talked with his mom''s sister and he looked around. The house was strange, it was a lot bigger then his own and had weird paintings everywhere. Was this really going to be his new home? He heard walking and a little boy ran into the room. "Hi." he said._

"_Hi." Ventus said quietly._

"_My daddy talks about you all the time you know." the boy said, "You'll be sharing a room with me until he can clear out the next room."_

"_Alright." Ventus said with a nod._

"_My names Tommy, but you can call me TJ." he said, "What's your name?"_

"_Ventus."_

"_That's weird." TJ said, "Wanna see your new room?"_

_Ventus nodded, he actually didn't want to, he didn't want to be in this house at all. But he got up anyway. He let TJ lead him up the stairs and into the room. It was strange and filled with toys he'd never seen before." "What is all this?" he asked._

"_This is a playstation." TJ said, "And this is a game called operation and this is a remote control truck and this is a-" TJ continued to list the names of the toys he had and Ventus blocked him out. He'd never had this many toys at his house, just a few cars and trains. He hadn't had a playstation either. "Ventus? You look sleepy." TJ said, "You can sleep in my bed!" TJ pushed him towards the bed and Ventus climbed in. "I'll wake you up later." TJ said as he left te room. Ventus sighed to himself and closed his eyes, he hated it here already._

_0.o.0.o.0_

_When he woke up, someone was leaning over him. He stared at the person, who was it? He couldn't see much, it was dark, but he could feel this persons breath on his face. "Who are you?" he asked. He wasn't scared, no he was just uncomfortable. Maybe it was a monster..._

"_You're her kid huh?" the person mumbled, "You look like TJ."_

"_Why are you so close to me?" Ventus asked._

_The person stood up straight and started mumbling too himself. Ventus sat up and felt around for his teddy bear, "Mister... have you seen my teddy?" he asked, "my mommy gave it to me." He searched the bed for it, "Can you turn on a light?" The man continued mumbling things before looking over to Ventus again._

"_You know I'd never hurt TJ." he said, "He's my kid." Ventus stared in confusing, was this TJ's dad? "But you're not my kid." The man walked over and lifted Ventus onto his feet. "You're wearing your shoes still."_

"_I forgot to take them off." Ventus said, "I was sleepy."_

_He stared at the man until his neck hurt, the man came closer to him and kissed his forehead, "You know I won't hurt you either, but you have to be calm. It'll hurt if you're not calm." The door opened and TJ's mother walked in. "Bill, leave him alone." she said, "Dinners ready."_

"_Are you saying I can continue after dinner?" he asked._

"_Bill... no, he's just a kid." she said, "Just leave him alone tonight, let him settle down first." The man let him go and Ventus fell back onto the bed. He walked out of the room and TJ's mother glanced at him before leaving as well. "Please wash your hands and come down for dinner." she said._

_Ventus nodded and got out of bed, he looked around for his teddy bear and found it on the floor. He hugged it to his chest and walked off to the bathroom._

0.o.0.o.0

"He was going to rape me that night, but TJ's mom stopped him." Ventus said with a sigh, "When she told him to let me settle down first, she meant to wait until the social workers stopped coming around. I never understood why she willingly let him do that stuff to me, but now I think it's because if he wasn't doing it to me, it'd be TJ he was hurting."

"So he raped you?" Vanitas asked quietly, "When?"

Ventus sucked in a breath and closed his eyes, "It was 3 months after I moved in. It wasn't for another year or so before he started making money off of me"

"_Ventus!" Bill yelled. Ventus stuffed his teddy bear under his bed before taking a breath. He really hoped he wasn't in trouble again, he didn't want to be punished. "Ventus!" he yelled again. Ventus ran out of the room and into Bill's office._

"_Did I do something wrong?" he asked._

"_No calm down." Bill said, "I just wanted to tell you to get ready, we're going out." Ventus didn't ask any questions, it was probably just another family thing. He hated those, Bill usually took them somewhere with lots of people. He'd introduce them all and tell the tragic story of his parents death. It made him seem so out of place in the family. Not that he wanted to be a part of the family, they were all mean. TJ was spoiled, he got whatever he wanted. TJ's mom was... well she was afraid of Bill and would do anything to make sure he didn't hurt her or TJ. And Bill, well Bill hurt him too much for his own good._

_He entered his room and looked through his clothes, what was he supposed to wear? He considered going back to ask Bill, but he didn't want to spend any more time with him then necessary. He walked into TJ's room. "TJ, where are we going?" he asked._

"_No where." TJ said, "Daddy says we have to stay inside today." Ventus left the room in panic, that most likely meant he was going to be with Bill alone._

"_Um, Bill..." he asked as he saw him walk into the hall, "What do I wear?"_

"_That's fine; you won't be wearing clothes anyway." Bill said, "Let's go." Ventus followed him slowly, why wouldn't he be wearing clothes? When Bill hurt him, he never actually took off his clothes. It all seemed weird..._

"_Where are we going" he asked._

"Alright, I get it; he did some freaky shit to you." Vanitas said, "But what's TJ got to do with it? From what I'm hearing, he didn't do anything wrong but act like a 6 year old."

"Well, that's coming up. I told my teacher what Bill was doing to me, and then we had this trial." Ventus explained, "He testified that he never saw Bill do anything wrong to me. But he was lying. It didn't matter though, I got sent to an orphanage anyway but... Bill could've gone to jail and I wouldn't have lived in fear for the next 3 years."

"So when'd you meet Aqua?" Vanitas asked.

_Ventus sat in his bed staring down at the battered teddy bear in front of him. It didn't look much like it did when his mother had first given it to him. "Mr. Bear, I want my mommy." he muttered. He knew the bear wouldn't answer, but he had no one else to talk too. All the other kids already had friends and didn't want any new ones. He was alone here._

_He'd been living at the orphanage for 2 years now and he was sick of it. He didn't like the place, it was big and dark and the teacher didn't like him. It wasn't the worst place he'd been, but he still didn't like it. "Oh stop it, you don't have the right to be picky Ven." he told himself. He talked to himself a lot, he had no one else to talk too and thinking made his head hurt. A lot- well all- of the other kids thought he was crazy._

_He was alone in the room at the moment; the other boys had been adopted. He had been jealous at the time, why did someone want them and not him? Someone had said he was getting too old, that once he became a teenager, no one would even look at him. But that was 4 years away from now, he still had time. At least that's what he told himself._

_Usually girls and boys weren't allowed in the same room, but apparently there had been a rush of female orphans. There wasn't any room for any more girls, yet this was the only orphanage in the city. So When Ventus was told there would be a girl in his room, he was a little curious. He'd learned a long time ago to never ask questions, no one would answer them, but when she came, he was full of questions._

"_What's your name?" he asked._

"_Aqua." she answered, "What's your name?"_

"_Ventus." he answered. They talked the entire day, until dinner. They sat at the same table and Aqua told him all about her parents. Her parents hadn't wanted her at all, they'd sent her to live with her grandparents. Her grandparents had died a few weeks ago and she's been shipped around to all sorts of places. Ventus never understood how she could be so happy about it. "My parents died," he said, "in a car accident."_

"_Really?" Aqua asked. She seemed interested in what he had to say, he told her everything and she promised to never hurt him at all. "You don't have to be worried about me, we'll be friends forever."_

_Aqua was 16 years old when they met, but she was nicer then anyone Ventus had ever met. He knew that when kids turned 18 they usually left the orphanage._

"_When you leave Aqua, will you take me with you?" he asked one day._

"_Huh? I'm not sure they'd let me." she said._

"_Oh, I get it." he mumbled._

"_No Ven, listen. Terra will be leaving in a few months alright, he's going to get an apartment and we might be able to move in with him." she said, "Then I'll get a job and open up a diner or something and we'll get rich, I promise." Ventus smiled, she promised, and Aqua never went back on a promise._

"When did you meet Terra?" Vanitas asked.

"Uh, he came a few months after Aqua. He was 17 and he'd run away from home." Ventus said, "He was only there for a few months actually, he was lucky."

"Okay, I get where this ends." Vanitas said with a nod, "Now tell me more about the orphanage, was it bad?"

"Well of course it was." Ventus said, "It was the worst place ever and I was glad when I finally left."

Vanitas remained silent as he took it all in. Ventus waited patiently for his reaction.

"This is so weird." Vanitas said, "How do I know you aren't making it up?"

"What? Why the hell would I make something like that up?" he asked angrily. Vanitas stared and shrugged, "We had a deal Vanitas and you better keep up your end of it."

"I will alright calm down. I just think we both need a break. That's a hell of a lot to take in." Vanitas said, "Let's get a drink first or something, lighten the mood before we go and get depressed again." Ventus nodded, he stood up and left the room. He was feeling a little depressed after telling him this stuff, even if he hadn't told him everything.

"Ventus, where have you been?" Roxas asked, "I'm bored."

"I thought you were at the park with TJ." Ventus mumbled.

"I was but he made us come home because Axel exploded the sand box." Roxas said, "Now we can play."

"Actually, I'm busy." Ventus replied as he went into the kitchen, "Why don't you go back with TJ?" Roxas groaned.

"No, I want to play with you!" he said, "Why can't we play together?"

"Go away Roxas, he's busy." Vanitas said as he entered the kitchen, "We'll play later."

"We? You'll play too?" Roxas asked with a smile, "I have the perfect game! Right now we're playing house with Xion, it's so boring... but then we'll all play ball or something fun." He skipped out of the room and Ventus sighed.

"I'm in no condition to be playing with people Vanitas." he mumbled.

"Sure you are." Vanitas said, "You aren't going to turn into an emo kid or something are you?"

"Shut up." Ventus growled.

"No really, you were moping around even before you told me. I mean you had everything and you weren't still living with the problem, yet you get depressed because someone's trying to help you."

"You can't talk Vanitas; you're as depressing as they come." Ventus said.

"Not exactly, I've always been like this." Vanitas said proudly, "I didn't just become depressed, my life's always been shit."

"Right." Ventus muttered. He looked through the fridge for something to drink.

"So where's Aqua?" Vanitas asked.

"She's at work." Ventus said, "What do you want?"

"To drink?" Vanitas questioned.

"What else?" Ventus asked.

"Um... Milk." Vanitas said.

"Milk? Just regular white milk?" Ventus asked, "That's pretty boring."

"Who cares, just get me a glass." Vanitas said. Ventus poured Vanitas a glass and poured himself some apple juice. He sat down and stared at the glass blankly, he wasn't really thirsty. "Have you ever smoked weed before?" Vanitas asked.

"No." Ventus mumbled.

"Really because you look like you like to get high." Vanitas said.

"Shut up, I'm not in the mood." Ventus snapped.

"i didn't expect you to be, I mean are you ever in the mood to deal with me." Vanitas questioned, "But okay, I can change the subject if you like. Have you ever tried morning bread?"

"Morning wood?" Ventus asked, was he hearing correctly.

"No you idiot, morning bread. It's like a pastry or something, my mom makes them with powdered sugar sometimes. Very nice, I have them in the morning." Vanitas said, "have you had them?

"No, it sounds nasty." Ventus said.

"How does morning and bread sound nasty?" Vanitas asked.

"Well I thought you asked if I ever had morning wood, I mean yeah I have but that's really weird." Ventus said.

"You're disgusting, who the hell wants to talk about morning wood?" Vanitas asked, "Now let's try this again, I'll change the subject. Will Sora and Roxas go into the correct grades next year?"

"Huh?"

"You know Sora would be in second grade and Roxas in first grade." Vanitas said, "But they aren't at that level yet."

"Well maybe, you don't learn much that you can't teach in a few days. Just addition and how to read." Ventus said. He forced the apple juice down looked to Ventus, "You haven't touched your milk."

"I'll get to it." Vanitas said.

"You're stalling." Ventus realized, "You don't want to tell me."

"I really don't. But I already said I did, so I will." Vanitas said. Ventus nodded, was it right to force this out of Vanitas? They made a deal, he'd tell him his story if Vanitas told him his. But... he hadn't exactly told Vanitas much... as little as he could actually. "Come on, I have to get home soon." Vanitas said. He stood up and left the kitchen and Ventus followed.

Vanitas flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes, he got comfortable and sighed, "Go on, sit down, this is a long one there will be no interruptions." He said.

"But you interrupted me." Ventus pointed out, "Besides, what if I have a question?"

"Keep it to yourself." Vanitas said, "It's simple really." Ventus sat down and looked to Vanitas.

"Well?" he questioned.

"Alright, it started when I was 8…"

0.o.0.o.0

Cliffhanger. I don't want to put them both together because Vanitas' chapter is really long. I mean this one is really short so maybe… no, separate updates. I think I need and update schedule or something, I usually update whenever the chapter is done but that seems too unprofessional to me.

Anyway, my little sister came up with Ventus' past, my LITTLE sister! She's watched too many lifetime movies for her own good. Of course Ventus' past isn't as graphic as Vanitas'. I made up Vanitas' all by myself. While I was writing it, I came up with the idea for another story. I want to hurry and write some of it, but I'm afraid that if I do, I'll forget about this one…

What a dilemma.

Anyway, review! Just tell me what you think. And if this is too upsetting for you, don't worry after Vanitas' chapter, it'll be all back to normal! Somewhat…


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_His house was blue, big and blue. That's why he liked it so much; it reminded him of the ocean. They'd just moved in a few days ago and he was still unpacking. Right now he was in the backyard looking at everything the old owners had left behind. There was a small pond that still had one fish swimming in it, there was a bird bath, a bench, and a dead garden. It was a big backyard that he and his dad could play ball in. His mom would fix up the garden and his dad would move the bird bath so they had plenty of room. It was going to be amazing._

_That is... until he had to start school. He didn't like school at all; the people there were pretty stupid if you asked him. Maybe this one would be different; it was supposed to be a school for smart people, that's why their uniforms were so nerdy. Vanitas wasn't super smart himself, but he still could not tolerate stupid people._

"_Vanitas! Come inside!" His mom yelled. He nodded and went inside._

"_What is it mom?" he asked._

"_Did you finish unpacking your room?" she asked._

"_No, but I will later." He said. She patted his head gently and nodded towards the stairs. Vanitas sighed and started for his room. Why couldn't he do it later? It's not like anyone was coming to see his room anytime soon. He pushed his door opened and sat down on the floor, there were so many boxes… he'd never get anything done at all. He pulled over a box and started taking things out. Why did he have so much stuff? "It's all dumb stuff." He mumbled. Just toys and books, who needed that stuff anyway?_

_He moved to another box and started to pull out his clothes, why couldn't his mom do this part for him? He didn't know how to fold clothes. He stuffed most of them into his closet and moved on; he still had so many boxes to unpack._

_Vanitas stood up and walked over to the window, he could see a lot from here. He could see other people's backyards, he could see kids playing, and he could see a playground and even a few animals. This neighborhood seemed fun so far. He heard someone walking down the hall and he stepped away, "Oh dad, look! You can see everything!" he shouted._

"_Keep your voice down boy!" his father snapped, "Why aren't these boxes unpacked yet?"_

"_Uh, well I was outside." Vanitas said slowly._

"_Do not leave this room until they're unpacked you hear me? I don't care if you're hungry, or if you have to use the bathroom, you don't leave until it's unpacked completely." His father said before leaving and closing the door behind him. Vanitas rolled his eyes and sat down; he crossed his arms and glared angrily at the door for a few minutes. He was used to his father's anger, which was something he'd grown up with. But it was so annoying! Vanitas slowly moved himself to a box that held his dirty clothes. There was a hamper in the corner of his room; this would be the easiest box to unpack._

_He started to pull out the clothes and noticed one particular shirt he was sure he'd thrown away. It was a white button up shirt, one he usually wore to church. It was ruined now, covered in dry blood and alcohol. He'd misbehaved at church and was expecting to get in trouble. His dad was an angry man so Vanitas had been expecting the worst. A spanking was the worst at the time, but that night after church had been different. Instead of the usual, his father smashed a beer bottle over his head._

_He still had a few scars on his scalp from where he'd gotten stitches. At the time he'd been disappointed that he'd angered his father that much, he should have been good at church and the whole situation, and the bills that followed, could have been avoided._

_Vanitas threw the shirt to the side and continued to unpack his clothes. It would take him forever to finish. "Stupid clothes." Why did he have so many of them? He barely ever went anywhere besides to church and school, so why did his mother continue to buy clothes for him every year? A yawn escaped his lips and he crawled over to his bed, he'd take a nap and finish unpacking later._

_X.x.X.x.X_

_Vanitas woke up and yawned, he was hungry and he could smell dinner. His eyes scanned the room and noticed everything neatly unpacked and placed around the room. There were a few shirts and toys lying about but other than that, his room was clean._

_He sat up in confusion; he hadn't done all this, had he? No, he was more than sure he had not. Maybe his mom had come in and done it, she liked this kind of stuff. Or maybe she'd done it because she didn't want him to get in trouble; she seemed to be afraid of his father at times. Vanitas himself didn't mind getting in trouble, he didn't really care. He wasn't a fan of the pain that accompanied punishments, but he didn't mind, after all it was his fault he'd gotten in trouble anyway._

_He stepped out of bed and noticed his shoes by the door; yes his mother had definitely come in his room. He left the room and looked around. "Mom?" he called. His mother answered from the living room and he stepped down. "Mom, my room-_

"_Yes I know, don't tell your father you know how he is."_

"_Where is he?" Vanitas asked._

"_He has work, now go to the sink and was your hands. Your father won't be home for dinner." She said. Vanitas did as he was told and walked over to the sink._

"_When do I have to go to school?" he asked._

"_Next week is when you'll start, and please Vanitas, don't get in trouble." She said. She seemed to be pleading with him, but why?_

"_He can't hurt me too much mom, he'll get in trouble." Vanitas said, "There's nothing to be afraid of." But there was a lot to be afraid of, his father could get really angry and hurt him really bad. There were times where he'd have to go to the hospital, but his father refused to take him in fear of being caught. He finished washing his hands and sat down._

"_Vanitas, you know he can hurt you." She said, "I don't know why you insist on letting this happen…" she said. Vanitas rolled his eyes and placed his chin on the table. What was she so worried about?_

"_I'm technically not letting anything happen," he said, "I mean you're the adult in this situation." He closed his eyes; he was only a kid, why did she expect so much from him? He couldn't just stop being himself and become the perfect child his father wanted. It wouldn't work._

_His mother slammed a plate down in front of him angrily, "Get yourself together or I'll tell him you didn't unpack your room like he said."_

"_Hard thing to prove seeing as all the boxes are already unpacked." He mumbled. His mom wasn't good at making threats, "Besides, I could care less if I get in trouble, I can handle anything he throws at me." He lifted up and reached for his fork. His mom slapped his hand away and planted herself in the seat across from him._

"_We say grace in this house, remember Vanitas?" she reminded. Vanitas sighed and bowed his head, he hated this part, why'd he have to thank god for something he didn't technically give him? It wasn't like god jumped down from his cloud palace and walked to the store to buy them food. It wasn't like he was the one who paid his dad so they could get said food. It was just something his mother used to cope. She used to say it all the time. If you pray, good things would __happen. But he'd been praying his entire life for his dad and his mom to be happy, so why were they drifting further apart?_

_But Vanitas didn't want to make his mother anymore upset then she already was with him, so he put his hands together and prayed over his meal. His mother didn't need to hear what he was saying, so he whispered as quietly as he could. "Thank you god, for being made up, and for making me pray to you for something you'll never do. Thank you for fucking up my life and ruining my mother's happiness. Thank you for giving me a father who likes to beat me and smashes bear bottles over my head. I'm _so_ happy." He whispered. He looked up and saw his mother was done praying as well or maybe she hadn't been praying at all._

"_What did you pray for Vanitas?" she asked._

_Vanitas put on a fake smile, "I prayed that we'll all be happy and I thanked him for the meal." He lied._

_0.o.0.o.0_

_Vanitas' father came home angry that night, he had just been fired. Vanitas had made sure to stay away from him that night. He avoided him in the hall and stayed in his room as much as he could. But that wasn't enough; his father came stumbling into his room really late. "Dad? What's wrong?" he asked, of course he'd already known what was wrong. His dad needed to blow off steam. He got out of bed and stood in front of his father, "Are you mad?" he wasn't sure why he was pretending he didn't know what was wrong, his dad was here to blame some things on him and beat him to a pulp._

"_I lost my job today, do you know why?" he asked._

_Vanitas shook his head, "No, why?" he asked._

"_Because I was late, because you hadn't unpacked your things." He said._

"_Well, you were only in my room for like 3 seconds." He said, "It's not really my fault." It wasn't a good idea to argue with his father when he was in this state. He'd never win, and his father would just get angrier. But he liked to push his luck for some reason._

"_It's your fault, but that's not why I'm here." He said. Vanitas tilted his head, if not because of that.. then why?_

"_I don't understand…" he said, "What did I do?"_

"_Your mother told me what you said to her about me, and how she had to unpack your room." He said. Vanitas sighed and looked away, of course she'd told on him. That's what she did when she was angry with him._

"_So?" he asked bitterly. And that's when it happened, his father punched him. Vanitas fell back and held his jaw, his dad had really punched him. Usually he slapped him, but this was new. HE stood back up and looked up as his dad pulled off his belt._

"_Go on, lay down on the bed." He said. Vanitas did as he was told and braced himself for a beating, it wouldn't take too long, at least he hoped it wouldn't. Sometimes his dad was hit him until he couldn't sit down anymore. Then he'd continue to beat him and kick him._

_He bit his lip and held in his cries while he was punished. He briefly wondered if anybody else was punished this way, it couldn't have been just him. And if it was, well maybe that's why his dad was so afraid to take him to the hospital. Maybe he could use that as blackmail, he could threaten to tell. But then he'd be taken away, and he didn't want that. His parents were the only people who understood him and everyone else would hate him. "Get up!" he heard._

_Vanitas scrambled out of bed and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Stop crying, now." He ordered. Vanitas sniffed and closed his eyes. "Now, we're going to repack all these boxes and unpack them again, you hear?"_

"_But, that will take all night." He said._

"_I don't care, you should have done it the first time I asked." Vanitas sighed and started pulling things from shelves and off of hangers from the closet. What was the point of all this?_

"_Can I do it tomorrow?" he asked. He was tired and he hurt all over, he wasn't in any condition to be working. But of course his dad ignored him, choosing instead to make himself comfortable in his bed._

"_You aren't going to bed until it's finished, now hurry. If I have to stay in here longer then an hour, you're going to be punished again." His dad leaned back and closed his eyes; Vanitas glared at him and started repacking everything. He knew by the next morning he would be punished several times, but he couldn't help that._

_He'd finished packing sometime around six. It'd taken him forever to pack everything exactly like his father wanted, and now, he had to unpack it and put the room just like his mother had it before. He couldn't remember what it was like before all this, but his father did._

_His father hadn't slept at all that night and he didn't look the least bit tired. He was watching him like a hawk, waiting for him to doze off before rudely waking him up. A yawn escaped his lips as he glanced back at his dad, when would he close his eyes? "Can I sleep now?" he asked._

"_You're almost done." his dad said, "But yeah go ahead." His dad got out of bed and helped Vanitas in, "We'll do this together later."_

"_Alright..." Vanitas closed his eyes and waited for his dad to leave. How could he transition from angry to nice just like that? What made his dad think he wanted his help? He'd beaten him last night and now he expected him to agree to his help? No way..._

_He yawned again and closed his eyes, he was tired yet he couldn't get to sleep. He ran his fingers over a bruise forming on his arm. He didn't know when his dad was coming back, he just hoped he'd be able to get some sleep before then. This happened a lot, after he'd get punished, he'd get a bad case of insomnia that last for a long time. He'd wander around school sleepily and the teachers would get concerned, it wasn't something that he liked to deal with._

_Vanitas yawned again and closed his eyes, he was so tired, it was unfair that he had to deal with this...He got out of bed and started to unpack his room again. What else could he do? If he couldn't sleep, well he'd work and maybe that would put him to sleep._

_0.o.0.o.0_

Age 10

_He wasn't sure when he'd actually stopped going to church with his parents. He just remembered that at one point, he'd gotten up and found his parents had left him behind. His father wasn't going either, Vanitas figured his mother was just going to escape from both he and his dad. They hadn't prayed at dinner in a long time, but Vanitas didn't mind. He kind of thought that she'd heard him talking that one night. Maybe she finally realized how much he hated religion._

_He'd never felt the need to pray before, even during the many times he'd been on the verge of death, but today he had too, if only to please his mother this once. His father had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, something he'd had for a few years now. According to his mom, that was one of the reasons he was angry for no reason sometimes. It's why he would feel hyper without sleep, it was why he sometimes had the energy to beat him all night long. She'd asked him to pray with her, so he did._

_Deep down inside, he wanted his father to get better, it would make his mom happy and the beatings might stop. Not that he cared, it just seemed like it would help everything it his father was cured. According to the doctor, this disorder had no cure, but Vanitas felt that if he prayed __hard enough, maybe it would work. But why would god listen to him? He'd said a lot of bad things about him, so maybe if he helped his mom pray, that would work._

"_The doctors say they'll be able to treat him, if he takes his pills right, he'll be back to normal." his mom said. But what was normal? His dad had always been angry like this, it was all he'd ever known._

"_Dad doesn't like pills." he mumbled._

"_I'm sure he'll take them just this once." she said hopefully, "He knows what's at risk here." But what exactly was at risk? Their family had fallen apart a long time ago, the only reason they were still together was because his mom didn't believe in divorce._

"_Mom, if you left him, would you take me with you?" he asked._

"_Of course." she said. Vanitas looked down, she'd never have the guts to leave him, he'd have to hurt her before she left him. As long as she wasn't getting hurt, she was fine._

"_When can we go home?" he asked, "I have to do math."_

"_Vanitas, we'll be here all day. You don't have to go to school tomorrow if you don't want to." she said, "This is hard for us all-_

"_It's not hard for me, all this has done is given him a reason to bitch us out." he said, "And I want to go to school tomorrow."_

"_Vanitas, I've told you more then once not to use that type of language." she said. Vanitas looked up and saw his dad walking towards them, a small slip of paper was in his hands. "Is that your prescription honey?"_

"_Yeah, come on. Let's get home." he walked by and his mom quickly followed. Vanitas rolled his eyes and followed as well, he was pretty sure that his dad would put on a show to make it seem like he cared, he always did after all. "So, how about we spend the rest of the day together?" his dad suggested, "I feel like I have a lot to make up for."_

_Vanitas kept the sarcastic comments to himself, it wouldn't help anyone. "What are we going to do?" he asked._

"_I don't know, maybe rent a few movies and eat pizza?" his dad suggested, "What do you want to do?" Vanitas shrugged and his dad sighed. "There has to be something you want to do." There had been something he'd always wanted to do. He'd always wanted to play ball with his dad. But that dream had been beaten out of him a long time ago._

"_No, nothing." he said._

"_Hmm, well I'll find something for you." his dad said. Ventus shrugged again and followed his parents into the car. His dad got into the drivers seat and his mom into the passengers seat. Vanitas put on his seat belt and stared absently out of the window. He was sure his dad was talking to him, but he wasn't in the mood to listen._

_He watched the landscape zoom by outside, he couldn't help feeling they were going to fast. Things always looked speedy when they drove but this was different... "Dad..." before he could get the full sentence out, they crashed._

_Well, they didn't crash technically, they ran a stop sign and another car crashed into them. He could still remember the impact. The car had crashed right into him. He'd felt shards of glass cut into his skin and things had suddenly gotten really hot. He couldn't move and all he could here were screams. He briefly wondered why anybody was screaming, it was just a little heat, he was fine, he'd been through worse._

_Of course he immediately changed his mind when the pain came. He'd never been through so much pain before in his life. He tried to move but he couldn't, it hurt too much. He could hear his mom calling him. He looked her way and saw her near his dad, were they going to get him?_

_His vision blurred and blackened, the pain melted away and he could barely hear anymore. He was dying... Panic flew through him as he came to this realization, he wasn't ready to die, no matter what his life was like, he wasn't ready._

_It was only a few seconds before his vision darkened completely and he passed out._

_0.o.0.o.0_

_When he woke up he was in the hospital. His arms were wrapped up and he hurt all over. He felt exhausted for a moment before relief filled him. He was alive! He looked around, moving his head as much as it would let him. There were no windows in the room and it was dark. He blinked a few times and looked around. There were lights coming from several machines behind him and there was a steady beeping sound. _

_Was he alone? What happened to his parents? He'd seen them standing together before he passed out, they had looked hurt, he'd seen blood on his dad at least. But they hadn't tried to help him at all... had they? He couldn't remember..._

_Someone entered the room and turned on the light, he flinched and shut his eyes, why was it so bright in here? "Vanitas? You're awake?" the person asked._

_He slowly opened his eyes and looked at this person, his dad. His dad rushed over to the bedside and took his hand. Vanitas looked him over, he was okay for the most part. There was a bandage on his face and his arm was in a sling. He had cuts and bruises everywhere but they looked healed a little already. How long had he been asleep?_

_He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. His throat was dry, but how could he ask for water? He tried to move his hand and point to his throat but it wouldn't listen to him. "what's wrong? Are you in pain?" his dad asked. He nodded and shut his eyes, maybe they'd give him something that would make him sleep._

_He heard moving around before something was forced between his lips. He tried to spit it out at first but stopped when he realized it was a straw. He immediately started drinking whatever was being given to him. He didn't recognize it, it tasted pretty funny to him, but it moistened up his throat and he didn't mind. The flow of liquid ended abruptly when the straw was pulled from his lips._

_He opened his eyes and glared at whoever had taken it away, "Give it back..." he choked out. He was surprised at how he sounded. It sounded weak, like he was dying or something. He started to panic again, was he dying?_

"_Vanitas, my name is Professor Vexen. How are you feeling?" the man in front of him asked._

"_Uh... hungry..." he mumbled._

"_Of course, you haven't had a real meal in days." Vexen said._

"_I had spaghetti yesterday, and we're having pizza today." he mumbled, "dad's gonna rent movies." Vexen nodded and looked to his dad._

"_He's suffered severe trauma, we'll have to run a few tests on him, he's lost perception of the last few days most likely." Vexen said, "I don't believe there will be any permanent damage to his brain, the concussions were minor."_

"_Thank you, when do you think he can come home?" his dad asked._

"_Maybe a week or so, he'll need to be on bed rest for a while though, his body is still week, he's lucky he survived it at all." Vexen said._

"_Where's mom?" he asked. They both turned to him._

"_Your mother went to the bathroom, I'm sure she'll be back soon." his dad said. Vanitas closed his eyes and thought for a moment. How long had he been asleep? It was still the same day right, they'd just crashed? "You've been asleep for a while now, you had us worried."_

"_How long was I sleeping?" he asked._

"_Just 3 days," his dad answered, "They said you'd never wake up."_

"_Can we have pizza?" he asked. He wondered why he sounded so stupid. He didn't want pizza, he wanted something to drink, and something to stop the pain. He blinked a few times and felt himself falling asleep, why was this happening? Would he wake up if he went to sleep again?_

_0.o.0.o.0_

_He woke up at home, he was in his bed, in his own clothes, and he still hurt. He wasn't thirsty anymore and he could smell pizza. He tried to sit up and found it a little easier then last time he'd been awake. But it still hurt too much, he ended up collapsing back onto the bed. "Dad!" he shouted._

_His voice didn't get very loud, it sounded normal actually. Would his dad be able to hear him? He closed his eyes and breathed slowly, his stomach growled and he groaned, he was hungry. "Dad!" he tried again. His voice was a little louder then before, but it still wasn't very loud._

_He wondered how long he'd been asleep, it seemed like time flied every time he fell asleep. He heard his door open and he opened his eyes. "Mom..." he mumbled. His mother rushed over to his side and took his hand._

"_How are you feeling honey?" she asked._

"_Um, okay." he said, "I hurt a lot." She closed her eyes and leaned over him. Vanitas rolled his eyes as she started to sniffle and cry. "Stop it mom, I'm fine." he said. Why was she so upset? He was awake now._

"_I know, I was so scared." she said, "Do you need anything?"_

"_Yeah, I want grape soda." he said._

"_The doctor said not to give you anything fizzy like that, so how about grape juice?" she stood up and left before he could answer. He hated grape juice, but at the moment, he was too thirsty to care. His father entered a second later and sat down on the edge of his bed._

"_Vanitas, I'm so sorry about all of this." he said. Vanitas noticed his arm wasn't in a sling anymore. "You'll be able to get up and walking soon. You can do it now actually, do you remember anything?"_

"_About what?" Vanitas asked._

"_Vexen said you wouldn't remember. The medication is making you forget. You've been awake 3 times in the last 5 weeks." his dad said, "You almost died Vanitas... It's my fault. They told me not to drive but I did anyway, I almost lost you. I've been thinking... about everything I've ever done to you. The beatings and everything, I'm so ashamed of myself."_

_Vanitas looked away, what was he getting at? Was this some big moment where he decided to change his ways? He'd seen that in the lifetime movies his mom watched, it never worked, so why would it work for him? "Vanitas, no more, I'll get better I swear."_

_0.o.0.o.0_

_Age 11_

_Vanitas had recovered from the crash almost completely. He still had a few scars that would remind him of that event, but other then that, he was fine. He occasionally got headaches, bad ones, but he would deal with them. As long as he was alive, he figured he better be grateful._

_His fathers promise to stop the abuse didn't last long. In fact, his hospitality melted away the moment Vanitas had been able to walk again. His father had slowed his recovery by a few months, months that couldn't be replaced and had caused him to be held back a year. According to his mom, it was a good thing. Now he'd be with people that were his age. But he didn't want that, he was smarter then most people his age and it wasn't fair._

_He'd become angry in the last year. Angry at everything around him, especially at his classmates. There was one boy in particular who made him angry. A boy named Ventus, this boy was an orphan. What angered Vanitas so much was the fact that Ventus entered the class with a smile on his face everyday. How could he be happy when he had no family? It confused him and made him want to punch something. Naturally he chose to punch Ventus. He never hit him hard, just hard enough for the boy to run crying to the teacher._

_It made him happy in a way, to see someone else in pain, someone other then him. It seemed he was the only one whose family life was shit and it wasn't fair. So Ventus became a regular target of his. He'd push him, call him names, or even steal his lunch money when his parents forgot to give him some._

_He never felt bad about it either, it was only fair in his opinion. But He was a little angry that he always got in trouble for it. Why was it that Ventus had to run and tell on him whenever he did something? It didn't make since to him, how could someone be so... was there even a word for Ventus' behavior? How could he be so... tattle-taley? No, that wasn't a word, but it would do._

_He could remember a day when Ventus walked up to him and tried to be his friend, he'd laughed and sent the boy away with a bloody nose. He didn't want Ventus as a friend, he didn't want any friends at all, he just wanted... he didn't know what he wanted... but he didn't want friends._

_0.o.0.o.0_

_Age 16_

_Vanitas had just gotten back home from work, he'd had the strangest run in with Ventus at the store a few weeks ago. He laughed to himself as he remembered the glares the boy had sent his way. He'd stopped his bullying a few years back but Ventus hadn't forgotten about it._

_Ventus apparently had siblings now, it was weird, last time he checked Ventus' parents were dead, who'd popped out those two boys? The boys had taken a strange liking to him, after eating some muffins of course. He tried to ignore it, little kids just made him angry, but now... he was staring at one now._

_The little raven haired girl in front of him was his half sister, at least according to the letter she'd just handed him. Her name was Xion, and she was his dad's child. Vanitas wanted to slam the door at that moment, he knew what problems this kid would cause. But something in him wouldn't let him. He'd taken the girl inside and sat her down in the living room. He delivered the news to his parents and sat back and watched. Xion cowered under his mothers gaze while his dad paced the room, rereading the letter over and over._

"_I don't understand, how could you do this?" she asked._

"_We don't know... we don't know if she's mine." his dad said. Vanitas rolled his eyes, it was obvious the kid was his. After all, who would dump their kid on some random man's doorstep?_

"_I just don't understand... did you sleep with that woman?" his mother asked. She finally turned away from Xion and looked to his father. Vanitas walked over and scooped the girl up in his arms. His parents didn't notice, which he was glad for, he took her up to his room and set her down. The girl was crying now._

"_Alright, cut it out." Vanitas said, "why are you crying?"_

"_I want to go home." she said, "Will you take me home?"_

"_I don't think..." he paused, Xion's mother had already made it obvious she didn't want her anymore. "Why don't you sleep?" he suggested. He didn't know what else to say, he hated kids and hadn't listened at all in child development._

_Vanitas left the room and closed the door behind him, he could hear his parents fighting downstairs. He walked back into the living room and leaned against the wall. "Where is she?" his dad asked, "Where'd you take her?"_

"_She's in my room." Vanitas answered, "Why?"_

"_She ruined my family, she's not staying here." his mother spoke up. Vanitas shook his head, anger boiling inside him._

"_No mom, you ruined your family." he said, "You stayed with a man who liked to beat your only child senseless every night, you and your dumb ass prayers made me insane and you let him go around screwing every woman he saw, this is your fault." _

"_You don't talk to your mother like that." his dad said. He rolled his eyes, he knew his dad could care less what he said to his mother, he was just looking for a way to save himself. "I'll beat your ass if you ever talk to her like that."_

_Vanitas locked eyes with his father, he wasn't scared of him, he never had been. He could hold his own in a fight now, he was a teen now. Vanitas sighed, he almost wished he'd closed the door on the girl, but he had a feeling that if he did, she'd have still been standing there when one of his parents opened the door._

_He sighed and walked away from his father, he just needed to get out of there, and he'd probably have to take Xion with him._

_0.o.0.o.0_

"Alright, that's up until I saw you at the park that day." he said.

"What?" Ventus asked, "You enjoyed stealing my money?"

"Is that all you got out of it?" Vanitas asked angrily. Ventus sighed.

"No, I understand it all." he said, "You have to go now right?" Vanitas frowned.

"Are you kicking me out?" he asked.

"What? No, I... no..."

"No, I understand. I shouldn't have told you anything." Vanitas said, "Your life is too perfect nowadays, you didn't really want to know." Vanitas got out of bed and started for the stirs, "Don't tell anyone about this. I'll kick your ass into next week if you do." He walked out of the room and found Xion with the boys. She saw him and walked over, "You don't have to come Xion, I'll come back for you later." He left the house before she could reply.

Ventus watched him leave and felt horrible, he'd definitely reacted wrong, he shouldn't have made him leave. He probably wouldn't come back now... Ventus shook his head, who cared if Vanitas didn't come back? They weren't friends, they never would be. After all, Vanitas had said he didn't want any friends...

X.x.X.x.X

Boom boom I'm done. Next chapter will be alright, so you guys should be happy. I have s fun day at the circus planned for the boys. That's right the circus, of course I've never been to the circus so I don't know what it's like.


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts

Chapter 11

"And they stayed in there for a long time, and when they came out, they didn't play like they promised." Roxas said, "Ventus was being stupid."

"Don't say that." Aqua said, "He'll be back to normal soon."

"But I want him normal now." Roxas crossed his arms, "how come TJ's not around anymore?"

"He'll be here tonight, I'll be going back to work and Ventus... well that's not important." Aqua said, "He needs time by himself." Roxas frowned, this wasn't fair. Sure he liked Vanitas, but when he started to make Ventus upset, then he had to go.

"Why does Vanitas keep leaving Xion here?" Roxas asked, "I bet her parents miss her."

"Why don't you play out back with Sora? I'll call you when TJ gets here." Aqua said. Roxas nodded and walked out into the yard.

"Sora! What're you doing?" he asked. His brother looked up and waved.

"Come here." he said. Roxas hurried over to his brother and kneeled down next to him, "I found treasure!" Roxas looked at the silver item that was half buried into ground. His eyes widened and he smiled.

"It is treasure!" he said, "Like from that book!"

"Yes, so when we dig it up, we can give it to Aqua to sell so we can get money." Sora said, "Then we'll buy lots of muffins and candy."

"Yeah." Roxas agreed, "Lots of muffins."

Sora pulled a spoon out of his pocket, "We can dig with this." he handed the spoon to Roxas.

"But this is Aqua's nice spoons. She only uses this for special stuff." Roxas said, "Is it okay to dig with it?"

"It doesn't matter, when we finish digging, we can buy her a billion replacement spoons." Sora said, "And maybe some forks too."  
>Roxas began to dig around the object, he needed to be careful. If he broke the treasure, they wouldn't be able to sell it for money. "This dirt's real hard." he said, "How am I supposed o get through it?"<p>

"I'll get water from the hose thingy." Sora said, "Just wait here." Roxas watch Sora run over to the house and wrestle with a strange green thing. He moved it around and turned some sort of knob that was attached to the house. The green thing jumped to life and spewed water.

"Sora get away from it!" Roxas jumped up.

"It's okay Roxas! Terra says it's supposed to happen." Sora said. He grabbed the hose and pulled it over to the treasure, "Now go turn it off when I say to." Roxas walked over to the knob and waited for Sora's order. He watched his brother struggle before finally gaining control of the hose. "Okay, turn it off now!"

Roxas turned the knob and ran back over. He bent down and started to dig again, "Hey it worked, it's coming out." He dropped the spoon and pulled up the object, "This isn't treasure." he said with a frown, "It's one of those stupid mirror thingies Aqua has."

"Man..."Sora sat down, "No candy or spoons... Aqua's going to be mad."

"Hey what are you doing?" Roxas looked up.

"Ventus! Are you okay?" He ran over and wrapped his arms around the boys legs, "Did you come to play?"

"Sort of... Aqua suggested we go out, us and Vanitas and TJ..." Ventus mumbled, "So we're going to the circus or something."

"What's that?" Roxas asked. Sora joined them and looked at Ventus with the same amount of confusion as Roxas.

"Well... I don't really know, TJ says it's nice and the circus is only here every few months." Ventus said, "It'll be fun."

"Okay come on!" Roxas and Sora ran inside and Ventus lingered for a few seconds, hopefully this would clear his mind...

0.o.0.o.0

The car was silent, too silent for Ventus to handle. He needed to apologize to Vanitas but the boy glared at him every time he opened his mouth. TJ seemed to be upset too and he didn't feel it was his place to ask why. "Why is everyone so quiet? What happened?" Sora asked.

"Nothing, we're just really excited about the circus." Ventus said.

"Are we almost there?" Roxas asked, "I'm hungry."

"Yeah, just a few more minutes." Ventus said. He glanced at Vanitas, he was glaring at something outside the window.

"Aren't you driving a little too fast?" he asked.

"No? I' below speed limit." Ventus replied. He stepped on the breaks quickly when he realized he'd almost ran a red light.

"You're a horrible driver." Vanitas commented, "I'm driving on the way home."

"This is my car, you can't drive it." Ventus said.

"Then I'll walk, I'm not getting in another accident." Vanitas snapped. Ventus rolled his eyes, he could care less if Vanitas went home with them or not. But he couldn't exactly let him walk home, it was at least an hour away on foot.

"Fine, you can drive." he said reluctantly. The tension in the car eased a bit as they pulled into the parking lot.

"Oh look at those pointy things!" Roxas pressed his face against the window, "It's so colorful! And look, trains!" Ventus searched for a space as close to the circus as possible, he wouldn't be in the mood to walk too far later.

"What will we do first? I think there's a few minutes before the show starts." TJ said, "Should we get something to eat?" Ventus nodded and got out of the car. Roxas followed his example and scrambled out as well.

"Look Ventus, animals!" he pointed to an elephant near the entrance, "It's wearing clothes!"

Vanitas got out and stood next to Ventus, "Why are we just standing here?" he asked. Ventus dug through his pockets for his wallet.

"Did you guys bring any money?" Ventus asked as he pulled out a few bills.

"Of course, It's $22 per ticket." TJ said, "I have 60 here."

"That's 132, we should have enough. Let's go." Ventus led the party to the entrance tent. He paid for the tickets and entered another tent.

"Ventus, why's it dark in here?" Roxas grabbed his free hand, "I can barely see."

"It's not that dark." Xion said, "Stop being a baby."

"It's not nice to call people names." Vanitas mumbled, "I'll find our seats." Vanitas took the tickets and handed Ventus some money, "Get me something to drink." He walked away quickly, "We'll be in row 20."

Ventus sighed, they'd have too much trouble finding him later, "Maybe we should go with him and get snacks later." Ventus said, "We could at least drop them off at their seats." He gestured to the kids who were gazing wide-eyed at their surroundings. He looked up and saw Vanitas returning.

"We have to hurry, it'll be too crowded later." Vanitas took Xion's hand and looked at Sora and Roxas, "Come on you two, we need to get our seats." The boys followed Vanitas through the rows of seats.

"Well that takes care of that, what do they have to eat here?" Ventus asked.

"Uh, popcorn, candy apples, cotton candy, hotdogs, french fries... I think there's more." TJ listed, "Are you okay?"

"I should ask you the same, you sound upset." Ventus looked around for the food stand, "But I was thinking we should talk..."

"About what?"

"The trial..."

"Ventus, not now..." TJ said, "We're supposed to have fun."

"Please just one question, why did you lie?"

"I was scared, I didn't want to be without my family. I saw what happened to you, I was afraid the same thing would happen to me, that my mom would get rid of me for helping you put my dad in jail... It was stupid." TJ said.

"No, it wasn't... you were a kid." Ventus spotted the concession stand and walked over, "And i've been thinking all night about this... I forgive you."

"What?" TJ ran to catch up, "Really?"

"Yes, I have to. You'll be around me a lot now." Ventus said, "And your kind of the only family I have left, beside Aqua and Terra... and Sora and Roxas."

"That's just what I needed to hear." TJ said, "Come on I'll buy everything." TJ got into line, he seemed a little happier then before. He ordered a lot of junk, candies and whatnot, then he lugged it all back to their seats. Ventus followed with a small smile on his face, things were looking up already. Now all he needed to do was talk to Vanitas again.

0.o.0.o.0

"How do they make them sit in the chairs?" Sora asked curiously. The elephant in the center of the tent was balancing itself on a chair and the crowd seemed to be going wild. Vanitas was just waiting for it to fall over, Either that or it would break the stool.

The kids seemed happy with it, but it wasn't enough to take his mind off of the previous conversation he'd had with Ventus. He couldn't help but think the boy was judging him. He probably thought less of him now, even less then before. He knew Ventus had probably told Aqua, which he prayed to god he didn't. He really shouldn't have told Ventus, he barely even liked the kid, it' just sometimes seemed like Ventus wanted him around. And he had to admit, it felt nice to be wanted.

Vanitas focused on the elephants again, at least he tried to, it simply wasn't interesting enough for him.

Vanitas cast a glance at Xion, she seemed happy. She was swinging her feet and smiling, something he hadn't seen her do at all since she moved in. But what reason did she have to smile? Her mom didn't want her, his mom didn't want her, and his dad probably didn't want her either. He felt bad for her…

A thought entered his head, what if he ran away… and took her with him? But then where could he go? He'd barely been at home; he stayed with TJ and at random motels. There was so much tension at home that he found it hard to walk into the house without his dad attacking him. And then there was Xion, he was going through a lot to make sure she wasn't hurt. He knew his dad really wanted to beat her into the ground for breaking up their family, but he refused to let it happen.

"Vanitas look, there's a tiger!" Xion pulled his sleeve and pointed frantically at the tiger, "It's so pretty."

"Yeah." He mumbled. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, maybe that would clear his mind. The roar of the crowd was to loud though, people were cheering too much. Every now and then there was a long silence, but by the time he finally got to sleep, they'd be cheering again. "He glanced at his watch and looked over to Ventus, "When is this over?" he questioned.

"Um… another hour or two, are you ready to leave?" Ventus asked.

"Yes." He sat back and watched the tigers moved around, "It's too loud in here."

"Then go to the bathroom, it's quieter in there." Ventus said. Ventus seemed too distracted by the show to even care. His eyes were glued to the performers below. Vanitas rolled his eyes and looked towards the performers too, it wasn't interesting to him. Xion pulled his sleeve again.

"Are we going home after this?" she asked, "Can we go somewhere else instead?"

"No, we have to go home." He said. He didn't want to take her back, but his dad had threatened to stomp right down to Aqua's house and take Xion himself. That would be too embarrassing for him, he'd never be able to show his face around there again. So they were going home, and he'd take whatever punishment his dad threw at him.

"You want some of my candy apple?" Xion held up the apple, "It's good." Vanitas shook his head and noticed Xion still hadn't pulled it away. Was she expecting him to eat it? Even after he'd said no? "Candy will make you happy." She offered.

"Fine." Vanitas took the sweet away from her and bit into it. He didn't really like sweets, but if it'd make her leave him alone then he'd take one bite.

"Well, are you happy?" Xion asked curiously, "If you're not, then you can eat some more."

"No, I'm happy now." He said, in reality, he was annoyed. He wanted her to finish watching the show, but she continued to watch him.

"Sometimes when I go to the park, Namine draws pictures for me." She said.

"You should watch the show Xion, you don't know when you'll be able to see it again." He said. That convinced the girl to turn away and continue to watch the performance. He sighed again, this had to be how Ventus felt, except he had double the amount of kids. A small smile formed on his lips, at least he wasn't the only one getting annoyed by kids. He yawned and closed his eyes, he was so tired, and he had to work later.

He'd need to find a place to leave Xion while he was gone, that would be a problem though, his dad wanted her there… He yawned again and slid down in his seat. He felt Xion's hands running through his hair and oddly enough, it was putting him to sleep. So he let her continue until he finally drifted off.

0.o.0.o.0

Ventus stared down at Vanitas, "he was unsure if he'd let him sleep, or if he'd wake him up. They planned to let the parking lot clear out a bit before leaving so there was no rush really. "How could he fall asleep? It was so loud." TJ said.

"He must've been tired." Ventus said.

"Why's Vanitas sleeping? Didn't he watch the elephants?" Roxas asked. He walked over and poked Vanitas' face, "He had a soft face, like you Ventus."

"Yeah." Ventus agreed, he didn't really think his face was soft, but he didn't want to argue with the boy.

"Sora, come feel this. I think he uses that stuff Aqua puts on her face." Roxas said, "You feel too Xion, I need everyone to feel." Ventus smirked as all the kids began to poke Vanitas' face.

"He's going to wake up you guys." Ventus said.

"Ventus, we need to do this." Roxas said, "It's real important."

Ventus watched Vanitas stir and mumble a few things before turning to TJ, "So why were you upset earlier?" he asked.

"My dad..." he said, "He doesn't want me around you." Ventus nodded and didn't question any further, he wanted to keep that in the past.

"Are we going home Ventus?" Roxas asked.

"No, we caught the early show, it's only 2. We can walk around for a little and see some things." Ventus said, "But Vanitas has work at 3 I think, we'll have to take him home."

"Vanitas can't stay?" Xion asked, "Do I have to go to?"

"No, I'll come get you later." Vanitas said sleepily. He sat up and yawned, "I'll walk home."

"No way, it's a long walk." Ventus said, "One of us will take you and come back."

"I can do it, I have to stop at home anyway." TJ offered. Ventus dug through his pockets for his keys and handed them to TJ. Vanitas got up and stretched.

"I'll see you later Xion." he said with another yawn, "Have fun alright?"

"But I want you to have fun too." Xion said

"I have to work." Vanitas said, "We'll do something later."

"Just us?" Xion asked.

"Uh... sure." Vanitas walked away and TJ followed. Ventus watched after for a little bit before realizing they'd left him with the kids.

"Oh no..." he muttered to himself, he turned to the kids, "Um... we're going to walk around a little alright?"

"Will we see more elephants?" Roxas asked.

"Maybe." Ventus said, "Come on, I think there are clowns here somewhere." He'd only seen a clown once before in his life but he knew he'd been creeped out by them. He wasn't sure if he should let the kids see the clowns but... TJ and Vanitas were already gone, there was no avoiding it. The clowns were everywhere he remembered seeing one serving food at the concession stand.

"Ventus, I'm hungry." Sora said, "Can I have some more cotton candy."

"I think it would be better if you ate some real food." Ventus said, "You can't live off of sweet you know."

"But we can eat real food when we get home." Roxas said, "I want more candy." Ventus thought it over, this was their fun day, maybe they could go wild just a little bit. Aqua probably wouldn't like it but... she was going to be at work for the next few days.

"Alright, but don't tell Aqua." Ventus said. He led the kids out of the tent and looked around, there weren't too many people around but it might be a little hard to keep track of all three kids. He looked down and saw Sora and Xion standing by his side, Roxas wasn't there. "Where's Roxas?" He asked.

Sora pointed to a clown who was handing out balloons. There was Roxas standing with his hands out waiting patiently for a balloon. "Roxas! Don't wander off like that." He took Sora and Xion's hand and walked over.

"He's giving out balloons." Roxas said, "They float." The clown tied a balloon around Roxas' wrist and looked to Xion and Sora.

"How about I get you guys a balloon?" he asked in an overly cheerful voice.

"I want one." ion said. Ventus looked down at Sora, the boy was hiding behind his leg.

"Sora, do you want a balloon?" he asked. Sora looked up briefly and shook his head. It occurred to Ventus that the boy was scared of the clowns. "Come on Sora don't be scared." he tried. Sora shook his head frantically.

"I don't like him!" he said. Ventus rolled his eyes and looked back to the clown. The guy was still smiling and to be honest, it was starting to scare Ventus as well.

"How about a joke, that always gets them." The clown suggested, "What does a kangaroo and a zucchini have in common?" The clown paused and looked at everyone, "Neither one can ride a bike!" Xion giggled and Roxas tilted his head in confusion.

"What's a zucchini? And a kangaroo..." he wondered out loud. The joke did nothing to convince Sora to stop being afraid, so the clown tried another one.

"How about this one, did you hear about the guy who lost his whole left side? He's alright now!" the clown laughed at his own joke and Xion and Roxas laughed too. Ventus was more then sure Roxas had no idea what was funny about the joke maybe he was just laughing because everyone else was. Sora still hadn't even cracked a smile.

Ventus sighed and looked back to the clown, "Looks like it didn't work, thanks anyway." he said

"No problem!" The clown smiled and made his way towards another group of kids.

"How about we get some snow cones." Ventus suggested, "Stay near me, all of you." he started for a stand that had a big rainbow sign, "Rainbow cone!" it read. Ventus walked over and noticed another clown serving the snack.

"There he is again." Sora said, "Ventus he's following us." This clown did look similar to the one with the balloons, but it couldn't have been the same one right?

"Just ignore it Sora, what flavor do you guys want?" he asked.

"I guess he wasn't lying after all." Ventus inwardly groaned as he heard the voice of Lea. He turned around and looked at him, "How's it going Ventus? Where'd you get all these kids?"

"Axel!" Roxas ran over to the boy standing behind Lea, "I didn't know you were here."

"These are my brothers." he said, "And that's Vanitas' little sister."

"Vanitas has a sister?" Lea scratched his head, "He was an only child last time I checked. How is it that all the kids keep appearing out of no where?"

"I drove hear in a car." Sora said, "Ventus drove."

"That's right, he has a car." Lea rolled his eyes, "You just got your license last month."

"So?" Ventus asked, "What's your point?"

"I'm saying it's not fair that you get whatever you want." Lea crossed his arms, "I got my license before you and it's not fair that don't have a car yet." Ventus shrugged, it wasn't like his parents were poor or anything. From what he knew, Lea's parents were just as rich as Aqua, just about everyone who moved here had to have some sort of money, it was one of the more expensive towns.

"What's that have to do with me?" Ventus asked.

Lea scratched his head again, "Uh..." he paused, "Where'd that kid go?" Ventus narrowed his eyes in confusion, what kid? Then it hit him, he was with 4 kids... He looked around and noticed Axel and Roxas were gone.

"Ventus, Roxas left." Sora pointed out.

"Oh man, I lost him again! Mom's gonna kill me!" Lea ran off in search of Axel and Ventus raced off in a different direction. It was a little hard though, he still had to hold on to Xion and Sora.

"Ventus, I don't want to run!" Sora said. He wiggled his arms, "I want my snow cone!"

"Me too!" Xion agreed. Ventus stopped and looked around, there had to e somewhere he could leave them. Then he spotted it, the lost and found. He'd leave them there and tell the people about Roxas too. He walked over to the small tent, "Um excuse me, I lost someone." he said. An officer stepped forward and looked him over, "Ventus?"

"Oh man..." Ventus closed his eyes and took a breath, of all the officers... "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I lost a bet and now I'm stuck with circus duty for the week. Now who did you lose?"

"Riku!" Sora pulled away from Ventus and ran into the tent, "We lost Roxas!"

"Don't worry Sora, my dad will find him." Riku said, "Right dad?"

"You lost Roxas?" Sephiroth smirked down at Ventus, "I can't imagine Aqua was to happy to hear that."

"Well, I haven't really told her..." Ventus said, "But you can't tell her either."

"I'll think about it." Sephiroth said, "Now where did you last see him?"

"Well, we were at the snow cone stand, when Lea came. He had his little brother Axel with him and Roxas and Axel are friends." Ventus explained, "We were barely talking for a minute before Lea noticed Roxas was gone. I think they left together."

"Alright, I'll let the others know, you go search for him alright." Sephiroth said, "I'll send a few of the other out too."

"Alright." Ventus turned and left the tent, he really hoped Axel and Roxas weren't stealing anything.

0.o.0.o.0

"Ventus is going to be mad at me." Roxas whispered.

"No he won't." Axel said, "Come on, Demyx is right over there." Axel pulled Roxas over to a tent, "We're going to do something really fun."

"What?" Roxas looked around, there weren't any people around, juts a few people sitting at tables. He wanted to go back to Ventus and get his snow cone, but if they were going to do something really fun... "What are we doing?"

"Roxas! I haven't seen you in forever!" Demyx ran over and wrapped his arms around Roxas, "Are you going to help us?"

"With what?" Roxas asked.

"Are your parents around Demyx?" Axel asked, "I don't want them to see."

"See what?" Roxas asked impatiently.

"No, I came here with my brother and he left to talk to his friends." Demyx said, "I just need to hurry back to the fun house before he gets there."

"Good." Axel says, "Did you bring the bottles?" Demyx ran back to the tent he was hiding in and returned with a bottle.

"It's still full too." he shook it a little.

"full of what?" Roxas asked.

"Beer." Axel answered, "It's going to help us."

"With what?" Roxas asked.

"We're burning the elephant tent." Axel said.

0.o.0.o.0

Bum bum buuuum. Alright, part two will be out soon, and so will the christmas chapter! The trip to the circus will continue to go wrong, you shouldn't leave Ventus with more the one kid in a crowded place. Thanks to **Icanbescarytoo** for inspiration. Review.


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 12

Sora sat on the bench and watched the clowns go by with Riku. He was glad he didn't have to be out there, there were too many clowns. "Why are they smiling like that?" he asked Riku.

"Because that's what they're paid to do." Riku said, "Want some ice cream?"

"Uh huh." Sora nodded and scanned the crowds, maybe he could find Roxas and they could leave. He swung his legs back and forth while Riku went to get the ice cream, they'd been in this tent for an hour since Roxas went missing and they were getting bored. "Riku, there's nothing to do." he said, "I'm bored."

Riku returned with the ice cream and handed one to Sora, "My dad says to stay here." he said, "I bet they'll come back soon though, it doesn't take long for my dad to find people."

"But it's been a long time already and he hasn't found Roxas yet." Sora mumbled.

"Then we'll help him." Riku decided, "Come on, let's find Xion and go."

"But we're supposed to stay here." Sora reminded.

Riku rolled his eyes, "I thought you were bored? Do you want to find your brother or not?" he asked.

"Yeah..."

"Then come on." Riku and Sora searched the tent for Xion, "Hey Xion! Come with us!"

"Why?" Xion asked.

"To find Roxas." Riku lead the two out of tent and into the crowd of people, "Sora take us to where he got lost."

"But I don't remember where it is." Sora said, "All the people are in the way." Riku paused and looked around.

"Of course, how about we go back to the tent then?" he suggested. Sora nodded and turned around, where did Xion go?

"Riku, we lost Xion!" he said. Riku looked around and didn't see her. He took Sora's hand and led him back to the tent they were in. "We have to look for her, Ventus will get mad if he comes back and she's not here."

"Who's not here?" Sora turned and saw Ventus staring down at them Riku bit his lip nervously and Sora looked away.

"We went out to find Roxas because you were taking to long and we lost Xion." Sora said.

"But we were really close to the tent so she can just come back here!" Riku said. Ventus stared blankly at them, Xion was lost too? He took a seat on one of the chairs and sighed. He was so screwed! "Ventus, just go look for her." Riku said, "You're being lazy."

"Hi TJ! We lost Roxas and Xion!" Ventus looked up and saw TJ walking into the tent.

"You lost Xion too?" he asked. He sighed, "I thought you left them here."

"I did, but they went out to find Roxas themselves..." Ventus sighed, "What are we going to do? This place is too crowded for anyone to find anyone!"

"I'll just call Vanitas." TJ said, "He'll know what to do." Ventus sighed, he was going to be a big trouble... wait, did he say call Vanitas?

"No! Don't call him! He's going to kill me!" Ventus stood up and took the phone from TJ, "We can't let him know."

"I already sent a text message." TJ said slowly. Ventus dropped the phone and sighed, Vanitas would call him back within the hour he was sure of it. And just as he thought that his phone rang, he slowly picked it up and looked at the caller ID, Vanitas. "Why can't we call him again?"

"He'll get mad and punch my face in." Ventus answered the phone, "Hello?"

"You lost my sister." Ventus shivered at the calmness in his voice, "You _lost_ my sister in a crowded place filled with strangers and potential murderers?"

"Calm down Vanitas-

"I'm calm Ventus, for now at least. You better find her and bring her home as soon as you do." Vanitas said, "And by home I mean your house, she's not allowed at my house when I'm not there."

"Alright." Ventus sighed and hung up before Vanitas could say anything else, "He didn't sound upset, but I can tell he's only acting like that because he's at work."

"Actually, he's not at work. I dropped him off at some office." TJ said, "He wouldn't tell me what he needed to be there for. He was probably afraid that i'd tell you."

"Which you would." Ventus said, "I'm going to look for Xion, stay here please, and make sure they don't leave again."

0.o.0.o.0

"But the elephants are in there." Roxas said, "Will they burn too?"

"No, Elephants are big so they'll trample out and step on people!" Axel said. He shook the beer bottle a little, "How do we open this Demyx?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Demyx shrugged.

"How are we supposed to do this without beer? The fire won't get as big." Axel crossed his arms and glared at Demyx, "You ruined it!"

"We need to use the stuff inside?" Roxas asked, "Why don't we just throw it and break it?"

"You see Demyx, why couldn't you say that? Come on guys." Axel led the boys away from the tent, "The elephant tent is over there." he pointed to a large box that the elephants were being herded into.

"That don't look like a tent." Demyx said, "I think I saw that on a train toy before."

"Shut up, it's a tent." Axel said. Roxas didn't think it looked like a tent, all the tents he'd been to were pointy on top and that was just a box. But if Axel said it was a tent, it must've been a tent after all Axel was 8 years old. "We need to wait for the people to leave." Axel said, "I'll throw the bottle inside and then we'll throw a match in there."

"Why are we doing this?" Roxas asked, "Are we going to get in trouble?"

"Well _I'm_ not going to get in trouble." Axel said, "And we're doing it because I want to." That really didn't seem like a good enough reason, but Axel wouldn't do it without a reason. They walked over to the tent and climbed inside.

"I figured there would be more people here." Demyx said, "You know to guard the elephants."

"Elephants guard themselves." Axel said, "look that's why they're so big." Roxas looked around at all the elephants, how did they get so many in one place.

"look Axel a baby!" he said, he pointed to a smaller elephant near the back of the tent, "It's a whole family!"

"Maybe we can make them sit on chairs like in the show." Demyx suggested, "Then we could get money."

"Yeah, we should take an elephant and have our circus. We can keep it my garage." Axel said, "We'll be rich." Axel walked further inside, "Demyx, keep watch." he walked over to one of the larger elephants.

"How come they're in cages?" Roxas asked, "Are they bad?"

"I bet this one is. His names going to be Big Bertha."

"That's a girl name!" Demyx called.

"No it's not!" Axel shot back, "Come on Roxas, come help me let him out." Roxas walked over to the large cage.

"How?" he asked. He couldn't see any kind of door, "How did it get in here?" he grabbed one of the bars and pulled, "Hey it's opening!" he said.

"What? They didn't lock it? They wanted us to have this one then." Axel helped Roxas pull the door open, "Why's it so heavy?" he asked as they finally got it open. They elephant didn't move, "Come on Bertha." axel moved away from the door, "We need to hurry." He took the bottle and threw it hard at the ground. "Get out Roxas it's time to go, let's go Bertha." Axel lit a match and threw it on the floor. The train car lit up in flames and Axel ran, Roxas followed behind shortly and turned to look at the elephants.

"The elephants aren't moving like you said they would." Roxas said, "They look scared."

"Come on before we get in trouble!" Axel pulled Roxas away from the car and back into the crowds, "Look Demyx! They're running out!" Roxas looked back and saw the elephants rushing from the train car. They were running fast... faster then they were.

"Axel, They're going to step on us!" Roxas shouted. The Elephants trampled out of the cart and towards the three young boys. Axel ran faster and Demyx was no where to be found. Roxas rab as fast as his legs could carry him but the elephants closed in on him. He glanced back and saw how close they were, they were going to crush him...

Someone scooped him up and took him away from the elephants. Roxas curled up against the person and closed his eyes. He heard people screaming and it sounded like people were running. The elephants were screaming too, they must've been scared of something. He briefly opened his eyes and glanced at the person holding him, he'd seen this person before. This man had been in Aqua's backyard two days ago and Vanitas had made his son cry. "Mr. Sephiroth?" he said unsurely.

The man glanced down briefly before continuing to look forward. The noise from the elephants died down after a few minutes and the man stopped running. He shouted a few orders and set Roxas down, "Stay here, I'll be back." he said. Roxas nodded and looked around. He could see the elephants being covered in nets, and people were still running around. He saw Axel and waved his arms frantically.

"Roxas! Wasn't that cool?" Axel walked over, "Too bad I didn't get to keep my elephant."

"What happened to Demyx? Did they step on him?" Roxas asked.

"Demyx? Um, he's over there." Axel pointed over to the parking lot, "He started crying and someone took him here."

Roxas nodded and searched for Ventus, he wanted to go home now. He couldn't find him anywhere, there was too much running around. "Axel!" Roxas heard Lea, and turned towards his voice. He saw the older boy run up and grab Axel, "Where have you been?"

"I took Roxas to the elephant tent, we started a fire!" Axel said.

"You did this?" Lea asked, "No way... You're in so much trouble, I'm telling mom when we get home."

"Huh? No! You can't!" Axel squirmed out of his brothers grip, "I don't want to get in trouble!" Axel ran off and Lea followed. Roxas watched them before turning away, was he going to get in trouble too? Ventus didn't know he helped Axel so maybe he wouldn't...

"Roxas!" Ventus ran over and took his hand, "Why'd you run off like that?"

"I went with Axel and we started a fire near the elephants and they started running!" he cried out. Ventus blinked and Roxas covered his mouth, he wasn't supposed to tell! "Never mind." he said sheepishly.

"You did this?" Ventus said slowly, "Oh my god! Aqua's going to kill me!"

"So I'm not in trouble?" Roxas asked hopefully.

"Oh you're in trouble." Ventus mumbled, "Come on." Roxas pouted and followed Ventus through the parking lot. "Stay here, I need to find Xion." Ventus pushed him towards their car and walked off. Roxas saw TJ and Sora sitting inside. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. It wasn't fair, he didn't do anything wrong. It was Axel who started the fire, not him.

"Roxas!" Sora leaned out of the window, "Where'd you go?"

"I went to see the elephants with Axel." Roxas sniffled.

"Oh no! Were you around when they started running?" Sora asked, "TJ said people got stepped on!"

"Uh huh, but Mr Sephiroth saved me from them..." he mumbled.

"well get in the car." Sora pushed the door open and Roxas climbed in, "I can't wait to tell Aqua what we did today."

"No! No one tells aqua." TJ spoke up, "She can't know about this."

"But, I want to tell her about the elephants and the chairs, and how Vanitas has soft skin." Sora said.

"You can tell her about all that, but not about the elephant stampede." TJ said, "we'll all be in a lot of trouble if you tell her."

"But Ventus said I was already in trouble." Roxas said.

"Um, well we'll see when we get home." TJ said. Roxas nodded and smiled inwardly, he knew what he had to do. Ventus didn't want aqua to know so as long as he had this information, he wouldn't get in trouble. He just needed to make sure Ventus knew that.

0.o.0.o.0

Vanitas absently mixed the muffin batter in the bowl. How could Ventus lose her that fast? He'd barely been gone for 20 minutes! He should've just taken her home... no, that wouldn't work...

"Vanitas! You've been mixing since you got here, you don't think it's time to start baking?" someone asked. Vanitas looked up and nodded, he needed to focus. Ventus would find her, he didn't need to worry about that.

He wiped his hands on his apron and started to pour the batter into the pans. But he couldn't focus, he ended up spilling a lot of it onto the table. "Vanitas?"

"What?" He turned around, "Aqua? You aren't allowed back here..." he looked her over, "What do you want?"

"Well, it's been a while since i've come here. But since Ventus is off having fun I decided to do a little myself." Aqua said, "and then I saw you and I came back here."

"Don't you have work?" Vanitas asked. He began to look around for a towel, meanwhile Aqua leaned against the table and looked around.

"I'm on my break." she said, "I was really bored, usually I spend my breaks with the boys you see? But they're off at the circus having the time of their lives probably."

"Or getting lost among the crowd of weirdos." Vanitas muttered.

"Stop thinking like that. Ventus is very responsible when it comes to kids." Aqua said. Vanitas rolled his eyes and wiped up the spilled batter. "So how are you Vanitas? You know, I bet it's rough at home."

"Sure, I can handle it though." he shrugged and began to prepare more batter.

"Are you sure? I don't want you too stressed, I'm planning a big vacation for us." Aqua said, "To a water park."

"Us? You mean me too?" Vanitas asked, that didn't sound right... why would she take him?

"Well of course you too! We could all use a break, it's been stressful for all of us lately." Aqua said.

"Um, of course. I'll have to ask my mom." Vanitas said. Aqua frowned at that, and Vanitas felt a little awkward. He probably shouldn't have brought up his family. "I mean just so she knows I'll be gone. I don't want her to worry."

"Would she really worry about you?" Aqua asked after a minute. Vanitas paused in his work, why would she ask something like that? His mother cared about him, she did to some extent right?

"Yes she would." He said with a little more hostility then necessary.

"Well now, I have to go." Aqua stood up, "Will you be around for dinner?"

"Not tonight." Vanitas said, "I have to go home."

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow." she walked out of the kitchen unnoticed and Vanitas sighed. He didn't want to go home, but he didn't want to keep mooching off Ventus' family forever. He tried to clear his mind and focus on the muffins he should have been making but he couldn't. He suddenly felt really hot, maybe because he was in a room full of ovens. He stood up again and fell back against the table, something was wrong with him. His heart sped up and his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Where are you? I told you to come home now." his father roared into the phone.

"Hmm... I'm at work." Vanitas mumbled, "I'll be there later."

"Bring Xion with you, got it? We need to talk."

"Dad... you better not hurt her." Vanitas said. He hung up the phone and it rang again. It was probably his dad again but he answered anyway. "Hullo?"

"Vanitas?" it was Ventus.

"Oh, uh... did you find her?" he asked.

"Yeah... are you alright?" Ventus asked, "You sound funny..."

"So do you." Vanitas said. He felt relieved, but that feeling was instantly smothered by a sick feeling rising in his chest. He rushed out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom. His co-workers called out behind him but he didn't stop, he was going to throw up and he didn't want anyone to see him. But with his luck... he didn't make it to the bathroom, in fact he threw up right in the candy isle in front of a group of kids. He fell to his knees and coughed, he was sick... just his luck...

"Vanitas?" someone came up behind him.

"Aqua, I thought you left..." he breathed.

"Yes, I left the kitchen..." Aqua helped him to his feet, "I'm going to take you home with me alright? I can take off the rest of the day."

"No, don't do that." he said. He was not about to have her taking care of him.

"Don't be silly." She pulled him back towards the bakery, "We'll tell them your leaving and then we'll go." Vanitas struggled weakly, no way was he leaving this store.

"Let go..." he sounded incredibly childish but he didn't care, he just wanted her to let go. "Come on I can't leave... My dad wants me to come home..." Aqua ignored him and told the cashier at the bakery they were leaving.

"I don't care what your father says." Aqua led him out of the store and into her car, "You don't have to be scared at him."

"Hold up, I'm not scared." Vanitas buckled his seat belt and closed his eyes, "I just don't want him to have a heart attack over me."

"A heart attack? I didn't know your dad had heart problems, I thought he was just bipolar." Aqua said thoughtfully.

"Who the hell told you that?" Vanitas opened his eyes, "Was it Ventus?" He knew he should have never told him, he couldn't be trusted... "He said he wouldn't tell anyone."

"I didn't hear it from Ventus, I heard it from someone at work." Aqua said.

"How would they know?" Vanitas asked. His mother didn't have friends, how did all these people know about their lives?

"It's not important how I know Vanitas," Aqua said, "I'll make you some soup when we get home." Vanitas leaned back and closed his eyes again. How many people knew about this already? How much did they know? He felt a headache coming on and he groaned quietly, he never usually got sick. "Do you like chicken Vanitas?"

"Yeah... I guess." he mumbled. Her voice was only making his headache worse, but he couldn't just tell her to shut up. He rubbed his temples and bit his lip, "How long until we get there?" he asked. The outside world seemed so loud all of a sudden. There were loud cars and horns every few seconds and it was really bright.

"Oh Vanitas, you look horrible."

"Well thank you..." he mumbled sarcastically.

"I didn't mean it like that Vanitas, You're pale and you're sweating. Maybe I should take you to the hospital." Aqua said. Vanitas glanced at her, she was looking at him. At him... and not the road...

"Don't look at me! Watch the road, if we crash..." he trailed off, if they crashed they'd both die or soemthing.

"Calm down Vanitas, we're at my house already." Aqua said, "The store is only down the street."

"Oh... I can't go to the hospital." Vanitas said, "I just need a nap okay? Just a nap before I go home."

"I'm sorry Vanitas but you're really sick, I'm going to call your father and tell him you won't be home today." Aqua pulled out his phone and began to look through it.

"Hey how'd you get my phone?" Vanitas asked.

"You dropped it when you threw up." Aqua said, she opened the door and stepped out of the car. Vanitas watched her on the phone, it seemed like she was yelling. His dad was probably mad, he was probably threatening to come to her house again. She was making things worse for him, he would be fine at home, his mom could take care of him. But he was tired and he really didn't care anymore. He just wanted to sleep. So he did or at least he tried to, he unbuckled his seat belt and curled up on the seat. He yawned and closed his eyes. Almost there... "Oh Vanitas! Don't sleep there!" Aqua opened the door and shook him, "Come on, you can sleep inside."

"Actually, I like it here." Vanitas said, "I'll sleep here."

"No you won't-

"Yes I will." Vanitas said. Aqua pulled his arm and suddenly he was out of the car. "Hey, you're really strong..."

"Come on, you're not stable right now." Aqua led him into the house and up into the guest room, "Here, let me wipe your mouth. You still have a little bit of throw up here." She wiped it away and pushed him towards the bed. Vanitas fell down and wrapped himself in the blanket. "I'll be back later, just sleep."

"Uh huh." Vanitas said, he closed his eyes and finally got to sleep.

0.o.0.o.0

"Now listen here, you can't tell anyone about what happened." Ventus said, "aqua will get mad at all of us."

"What if I decide I want to tell Aqua?" Roxas said. Ventus looked back and narrowed his eyes, "I won't tell if I don't get in trouble for starting that fire." Oh god, Roxas was blackmailing him... Who could've possibly taught him that?

"It doesn't matter, you'll still get in a lot more trouble than me." Ventus said.

"How come?" Roxas asked, "Aqua doesn't know about the fire."

"But I'll tell her if you tell on me." Ventus said, "And you won't get dessert for a long time."

"But that's not fair."

"You don't know what fair is Roxas." Ventus said, "You shouldn't have gone with Axel in the first place."

"But he said we were going to do something fun." Roxas said, "I didn't know he was going to scare all the elephants."

"Later Roxas, we'll talk about this later." Ventus said. He looked out of the window and sighed, it was so fun until they went outside... He should have known someone was going to get lost. After all, it was impossible not to lose children in a crowd like that. But then there was Axel, if this didn't prove Axel was a bad influence then he didn't know what did. The boy set a fire in a train car full of elephants, then he left Roxas alone to run from them. He was sure a lot of people were hurt and just hoped Sephiroth didn't tell Aqua.

"'m hungry." Sora said.

"We'll eat when we get home alright?" he promised. He suddenly thought about when they'd first started living with him. They were so robotic and the only emotion they showed seemed to be fear. Yet now... they were pretty normal. They laughed and smiled and cried and screamed, it was strange how they changed so fast. They didn't cling to him as much as before. When they were bored they found something to do on their own, he couldn't say he didn't like that. In the beginning, he barely had time to sleep, it was like taking care of newborn babies. They wouldn't sleep when he wanted them too, they wouldn't eat when he wanted them too and if he left them alone for one second, they freaked out. And they stayed up _all_ night! All because they were afraid of the "Bookeyman".

He looked back again and they were asleep, "Hey TJ, do you think all this drama is affecting them?

"You mean from the circus? They seem pretty fine to me."

"No I mean, with Vanitas and everything. Would it make them turn into bad people?" Ventus asked.

"I don't think so, they seem pretty clueless when it comes to Vanitas' personal affairs. The only one to worry about is Xion." TJ said, "It has to be hard for her." Ventus nodded, she probably missed her mother more then anything. But her mom probably didn't care about her too much right? After all she abandoned her on someones doorstep. "I think they'll be fine, as long as you make sure they know someone loves them."

"Huh?"

"Like Vanitas, his parents loved him but they never showed it. So he became withdrawn and independent. If his mom hadn't ignored everything his father had been doing to him, he wouldn't be like this at all. He'd probably be a little like you." TJ said.

"Love? Really, you think that's all it takes?" Ventus said. That couldn't have been it, love... really?

"Yes, it's in all the movies. Plus I learned it in a child development class I took." TJ said, "Love is a big factor. It wouldn't matter if the family was dirt poor, as long as they loved each other, they would be okay."

"That sounds right." Ventus agreed. They pulled into the driveway and Ventus yawned, "Hey, Aqua's home." He got out of the car and opened the back door. He picked up Sora and headed for the door, "You should call Vanitas, let him know we're back." And as soon as he said that, he got worried. When he'd called Vanitas earlier, the boy had sounded weird. Then there was shouting and he hung up on him. He wasn't sure what had happened but he was really worried.

Ventus opened the door and set Sora on the couch. He noticed Vanitas' shoes near the door as he walked out to get Roxas. "He's not answering." TJ said. The two of them brought the remaining two children into the house and sat down on the floor. "I should get home." TJ said. But he didn't move, he instead leaned against the couch and yawned. "It's been a long day..."

"Tell me about it." Ventus rubbed his eyes and yawned as well. The next time he looked at TJ, he was asleep. He told himself to get up and get ready for bed but he was too tired. Why was he so tired, he'd been wide awake just before he walked inside.

After a few minutes of staring absently into space he finally fell asleep. And he dreamed of clowns and elephants.

0.o.0.o.0

(ಠ益ಠ) Tehe, it's a face. Sorry sorry sorry! I wanted to update, but my computer died on me. And it cleaned my hard drive... you know this chapter was ten times better the first time I wrote it. But I'm sorry for how long this took, next chapter will be up quicker.(I've said that before haven't I?) It's true this time! I swear!


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"So tell me again why he's in my bed?" Ventus asked, "What was wrong with the guest room?"

"He threw up all over the sheets," Aqua said, "So I put him here." she wiped the sweat from Vanitas' forehead and sighed, "He's not doing so well."

"Where will I sleep then?"

"In Terra's room or maybe the floor." Aqua said with a shrug, "But don't worry, as bad as he is, I don't think he'll be sick much longer."

"Yeah, we have finals later." Ventus said, "On Tuesday." Then it would be summer, he could relax and swim and sleep all day without having to worry about a thing. Oh but then there was Sora and Roxas... he didn't have school as an excuse any more so he'd have to play with them all day. He also needed to teach them to read and write so they could start school in the fall.

"Ventus, why don't you get me the medicine from the bathroom. The one in the green bottle." Aqua said. Ventus nodded and left the room, he was unsure how well the medicine would work, after all the last time they'd used it was 3 years ago. It was probably expired or something... did medicine even expire?

He entered the bathroom and opened the mirror cabinet, why were there so many pills in there? He moved around the cabinet and found it behind the aspirin. He shook and and found it was empty, "Aqua, there's none left!" he shouted as he walked down the hall.

"Don't shout Ventus it's too early in the morning." Aqua said, she met him in the hall and took the empty bottle from him, "Just great..." she mumbled, "I'll have to get some more."

"I could get it-"

"Oh no, I'll just get it myself." Aqua said. She down the stairs before he could object. Ventus frowned and stared after her, he knew what she was doing. She was going to work and leaving him to take care of Vanitas.

Ventus entered his room and sat down at his desk, he slid the chair a little closer to his bed and looked Vanitas over, "What the heck do you have anyway?"

"I'm not sick." Vanitas mumbled suddenly. Ventus rolled his eyes, of course he was sick, he looked horrible. His skin was covered in sweat and his cheeks were tomato red, not to mention he was breathing hard.

"Then what's wrong with you?" Ventus asked. Vanitas didn't answer and Ventus smirked, "That's what I thought, you're sick."

Xion poked her head into the room and looked around, "Hi Ventus." she said sleepily. She walked into the room and made herself comfortable near the bed, "Why is Vanitas in your bed?"

"He's sick." Ventus said.

"Really? I bet Roxas could fix him." Xion said. She played with her hair for a moment, "He's a doctor." Ventus held back a laugh, how exactly had she come to that conclusion? Roxas was most definitely not a doctor and probably wouldn't be able to help Vanitas at all. But Ventus didn't speak his mind, he just nodded. "I'll get him." she lazily got to her feet and yawned, "Just hold on." She walked to the door and took a deep breath, "ROXAS!"

Ventus nearly jumped out of his skin, he hadn't expected her to be so loud. "Keep it down." he said. He glanced at Vanitas, the boy hadn't moved at all.

"What is it?" Roxas entered the room, "What's wrong?"

"My brother is sick, we need you to fix him." Xion said. Roxas rubbed his chin and nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll get my bag." he left the room and returned a minute later with a white bag. One of Aqua's purses actually, "Move aside Xion, I'll fix him." Ventus watched Roxas climb onto bed and poke around Vanitas face. He wanted to stop him, but he was feeling really lazy. "I've got the perfect thing to fix him." He opened the purse and pulled out a cheeseburger. "This will fix him."

Ventus watched in confusion as Roxas placed the cheeseburger onto Vanitas' forehead. "Uh Roxas..." he started slowly, "Where did you get that?"

"From the picnic Aqua had, I wanted to save it so I put it under the sink in the bathroom." Roxas got off of the bed and nodded to Xion ,"He should be fixed now."

"Ventus..." Vanitas mumbled, "Get this thing off of me." Ventus walked over and picked up the old cheeseburger.

"Roxas, we put things in the fridge when you want to save them." he said, "And burgers can't make people feel better."

"Why not? They taste yummy?"

"Not when they've sat under the sink for 3 days." Ventus said, "Where's TJ?"

"He's in the kitchen making breakfast." Roxas said.

"Well why don't you 2 go help him." he suggested.

"He doesn't need our help." Roxas said.

"Well you can't stay in here, you'll get sick." Ventus said, "So go." Roxas sighed and left the room, Xion followed behind slowly.

"Ventus, I need you to call my dad for me." Vanitas said, "Tell him I'll be home soon."

"Huh? No way, you're still sick." Ventus said, "I don't think Aqua would like it if I let you go home."

"Ventus, you don't know my dad. He'll call the police and tell them Aqua kidnapped me. Or he'll come down here himself and get me." Vanitas said, "It'll be a lot easier if I just go home."

"Well... the doorbell rang and he took the chance to leave. He hurried down the stairs, "I got it TJ." He opened the door and saw a man with black hair...

"This is where he is isn't it? Where's my son?" he asked, "Where's Vanitas? And Xion too, I know they're here." Ventus blinked as the man pushed by him and into the house, "Vanitas! Where are you?" So this was Vanitas' dad? He sighed and walked up to the man.

"Hey he's really sick, it isn't a good idea for him to be moving so much." Ventus said.

"He's upstairs then huh?"

"I'm right here dad." Vanitas stepped up to them and rubbed his head.

"Vanitas, what are you doing?"

"I'm going home." Vanitas said, "Where's Xion?" the girl in question entered the room and saw Vanitas.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"Xion, get in the car. We're leaving." Vanitas' dad turned back to Ventus, "Now you tell that woman not to come near my son again."

"Dad, that's not necessary." Vanitas mumbled.

"Yes it is. You aren't coming over here ever again." something flashed over Vanitas' face and if Ventus was right, it was fear.

"Dad..." Vanitas started, "You can't-"

"Get in the car, we don't have all day."

"Listen, I have to-" Before Vanitas could even finish the sentence, he was on the ground holding his jaw. Ventus blinked and crossed his arms.

"You didn't need to hit him like that." he said.

"What do you know? Stay out of my business." Ventus glanced down at Vanitas, he'd passed out.

"He's sick, you can't go around hitting him like that." he said. He tried to sound firm but that was really hard when the man was glaring at him with all the anger in the world. When he stepped forward, Ventus actually thought he was about to hit him. But the man stomped by him and took Xion's hand.

"I'm coming back for him later." he said as he left the house. Ventus watched after him, he couldn't just let him take Xion, Vanitas would be so angry, but he couldn't stop him either. Ventus sighed and stood up, this wasn't a good idea but...

"Hey you can't take her." he followed Vanitas' father outside. He really wanted to let the older man walk away but he couldn't. Vanitas had tried so hard to keep Xion away from this man and he wouldn't be happy to hear that his father had taken her away.

As Ventus snapped out of his thoughts, he saw he was holding onto Xion and Vanitas' father was glaring daggers at him. "You can't take her there..." he said slowly, "It's not a good idea."

"You don't know a thing kid." the man stepped forward and Vanitas set Xion down.

"You go back to Vanitas alright?" he looked back to Vanitas' dad, "I think you should leave them here tonight." If he could convince the man to let them stay another night, he could let Aqua handle it.

"I don't want to hear any of this."

"But Vanitas is sick and Xion..." he trailed off, what could he say? There was no reason Xion couldn't go with him besides the fact that Vanitas didn't want that.

"Kid, I don't know you at all, but if you can't stay out of my business I'm going to kill you." Ventus flinched and stepped back, he could not fight him, he was way too big. But he didn't need to fight, because Aqua pulled into the driveway just as the man raised his fist to punch him.

"What's going on here?" Aqua got out of the car and walked over, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I came to get my kids."

"Really, that's not a good idea." aqua said, "Why don't we talk about this inside?" she motioned towards the open door, "We really don't want anyone to see this." Ventus took the opportunity and went inside, he kneeled down next to Vanitas and tapped his shoulder. That punch could not have been good for him.

"Hey get up, we need to get you off the floor." he mumbled. Aqua and Vanitas' dad entered the house and went into the living room. Ventus pulled Vanitas off the floor and struggled to get him over to the couch, "Hey are you awake?"

"No." Vanitas mumbled. Ventus rolled his eyes and dropped him onto the couch, Vanitas curled up and sighed, "Where'd he go? Where's Xion?"

"Aqua took him into the living room." Ventus said.

Vanitas looked around in confusion, "Isn't this the living room?"

"No, this is the den." Ventus said, "And Xion is... she's here somewhere."

"Find her." Vanitas ordered, "I have to make sure she's okay." Ventus nodded and looked around, maybe she was in the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and found them all sitting down and eating.

"Oh, hey Ventus." TJ said.

"What have you been doing?" he asked, surely he must have heard Vanitas' dad. Why hadn't he come out to help?

"Well I was cooking." TJ rubbed his head, "Why?"

"Vanitas' dad came and punched him in his jaw. He passed out for a minute." Ventus said, "Only because he was sick though." he added.

"Oh wow... is he still here?" TJ asked.

"Yeah, aqua's talking to him. But he doesn't seem like he's willing to negotiate. He just wants to take them home right now.

"This is all boring." Roxas mumbled to Sora.

"I know, I want to go to the park." Sora said, "Ventus can we go out?"

"Hm, hold on." he left the kitchen and went back to Vanitas, "Xion's eating breakfast in the kitchen."

"Listen here, you need to take her... and go." Vanitas said, "Just take her somewhere safe."

"Vanitas, that's kidnapping... I can't do that." Ventus shook his head, "There has to be something else we can do."

"Aqua can't convince him to let me stay here. He'll take me home but I can't let Xion go back there. They both hate her there." Vanitas said, "He's just too controlling to think about others."

"Have you talked to him?"

"No, he won't listen." Vanitas rubbed his jaw and sighed, "He never listens."

"Why don't we go and talk to him now?" Ventus suggested, "He's around Aqua, she knows a lot of people and I'm sure he wouldn't try anything."

"I guess not..." Vanitas said slowly. He slowly rolled off of the couch and stood up, "Let's go." Ventus nodded and walked into the living room. Vanitas entered a few seconds later and sat down near his dad.

"Vanitas, you really should be resting." Aqua said. Vanitas shrugged and looked around.

"Um, Vanitas? Remember why we came in here?" Ventus reminded.

"Yeah yeah I'll get right too it." he said as he examined every detail in the room. Ventus rolled his eyes and sat down next to Aqua.

"What's this about boys?" she asked, "Can't you see we're busy?"

"I just need to talk to my dad Aqua." Vanitas said, "Alone."

"Oh alright." Aqua stood up, "Let's go Ventus. We should get some snacks for our guests." He was sure they didn't need any snacks but he followed anyway. "That man is weird." she mumbled once they left the room.

"What did you talk about?"

"I just tried to talk him into letting Vanitas and Xion stay here while they work out the divorce. But he kept spouting nonsense about how Vanitas is his son and I can't take him away." Aqua sighed, "But I think he was considering it."

"I doubt it, Vanitas said that he doesn't listen to anyone." Ventus said.

"Oh really? How about we get them some pretzels or something." Aqua suggested, "They'll lighten the mood." Aqua walked into the kitchen and began to look around. Ventus followed her and sat down next to Sora.

"Aqua, can we have some candy?" Roxas asked.

"It's too early."

"It's too early for everything." Roxas mumbled.

"What was that?" Aqua asked.

"Nothing... but I'm really bored. Ventus won't take us outside and we can't have candy." he crossed his arms and sighed, "Will you play with us in the backyard?" he asked suddenly.

"Oh can we play ball?"

"Yes we can." Roxas decided, "Come on Ventus, and bring Vanitas too."

"Vanitas is busy." Aqua sad, "But I'm sure TJ will play with you guys."

"Actually, I need to go home." TJ said, "I was supposed to get home last night."

"Oh that's fine, I'll see you later." Aqua said as she found the pretzels. She poured them in a bowl and tasted one, "Go on and play with the kids Ventus." Roxas and Sora jumped out of their seats and raced outside, "Xion, why don't you come with me." Aqua said.

"Okay." Xion slid out of her chair and followed Aqua back to the living room. Ventus sighed and went into the backyard. Sora and Roxas were both standing near the pile of toys in the back.

"He wants to play soccer." Roxas decided.

"No, he wants to play catch." Sora pulled a baseball out of the pile.

"No, you want to play catch. Ventus wants to play soccer." Roxas dug through the pile for the soccer ball.

"I'm pretty sure he likes catch better." Sora insisted.

"Soccer!" Roxas shouted.

"Catch!" Sora shouted back.

"Soccer, he wants to play soccer." Roxas crossed his arms, "So that's what we'll play."

Ventus watched the two boys fight over what they'd play. He didn't want to play anything, but that was only because he was feeling lazy. Maybe they could play football, if Roxas wanted to kick a ball, he could kick the football. Then Sora could run and catch it. It would all work out, and all he really had to do was catch the ball a few times.

"Ventus! Tell this stupid-head that you want to play soccer." Roxas ran over with the ball and held it up to him.

"No way! He wants to play catch, right Ventus?" Sora joined them with the baseball, "It's a lot more fun."

"Soccer Sora! Soccer!" Roxas dropped the ball and crossed his arms.

"He wants to play catch." Sora said.

"Soccer!"

"Catch!"

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who knows what I want to play." Ventus said. Both boys stopped their shouting and looked at him.

"Well? What do you want to play?" Roxas asked.

"Tell us." Sora said.

"Uh... football?" he suggested.

"Football!" Roxas exclaimed, "I knew that's what he wanted to play." He picked up the soccer ball and ran back over to the pile to search for the football.

"You know Ventus, we haven't played in forever." Sora said. He tossed the baseball to the side, "You've been with Vanitas all the time suddenly." Ventus shrugged, he hadn't been hanging with Vanitas that much, it'd only been three days. But he guessed that was a lot of time, especially if you couldn't tell time.

"Well, we're playing now right?" Ventus said, "That's all that matters."

"Yes, you're right." Sora nodded. Roxas ran back over without the football.

"It's gone!" he said, "I can't find it!"

"We can play something else then. Like tag." Ventus suggested. Their eyes widened ad they stared for a minute, an entire minute. "Or we could play something else..."

"Tag!" Roxas nodded, "You'll never catch me!" He took off in one direction and Sora in the other. He smiled and chased after Sora, that would be the easy one to catch. Sora was fast, but not as fast as Roxas.

"No! You have to chase Roxas!" Sora panicked and ran in circles, "There's no where to run!" Ventus caught him and picked him up, "No fair, there was no where to go."

"This back yard is huge Sora, you could've gone anywhere. Like Roxas." he pointed over to Roxas, who was still running around, "I'll give you another chance." he set the boy down and started for Roxas.

"You can't catch me Ventus, so stop trying!" Roxas shouted, "I'm too awesome!"

0.o.0.o.0

An hour later, Ventus was sitting down in the middle of the backyard. He'd yet to catch Roxas, but that didn't matter, they had fun. Of course he caught Sora 9 times, the kid was really dumb when it came to running away. "Haha! I'm awesome! I learned that word from TJ and decided it describes me perfectly. So Sora, admit that I'm awesome and kneel down and cry! Cry like the stupid head you are!" Roxas shouted.

They began to wrestle on the ground and Ventus escaped into the house, "Aqua?" he called. She entered the kitchen with the bowl of pretzels, she set it down and sighed.

"Vanitas and Xion went home..." she said.

"What? Why?" Ventus asked, "When did they leave?"

"Half an hour ago." Aqua said, "Vanitas was so calm about it all, his father threatened him so much Ventus that I wasn't sure if they were real or not. Yet Vanitas acted so calm! He just agreed and they left. But before he left he smiled, Ventus he smiled! And he told me not to worry... but that just made me worry more." she took a breath, "I'm not looking forward to work at all tomorrow."

"Uh wow... well tomorrow's our last day of school..." he said, he was trying to lighten the mood but it wasn't working.

"Yes, you have finals today and tomorrow." Aqua said.

"Today? It's Sunday Aqua."

"No Ventus, it's Monday. You're skipped school for some reason." Aqua said, "It was only one final today though. I called and you two can make it up tomorrow."

"Why didn't you remind me?" Ventus asked, "I don't want to stay an extra hour tomorrow."

"Ventus! What's for dinner? Can we go to the park? Where's Xion? Can you tell Sora I'm awesome?" Roxas shouted as he entered the kitchen.

"Roxas, we don't shout in the house, you know that." Aqua said.

"Sorry Aqua." Roxas said quietly, "But tell Sora I'm awesome."

"It's not time for dinner yet Roxas, it's only twelve. We can have lunch though." Ventus said.

"I want chicken nuggets." Roxas said.

"Okay, where's Sora?" Aqua asked.

"He's in the backyard being stupid and saying he's going to tell about how I helped Axel start a fire. Witch is stupid because I didn't help him, I just watched it." Roxas said. Ventus casually inched towards the door, he should've known he couldn't keep it a secret...

"Ventus? What is he talking about?" Aqua asked, "I saw it on this news this morning but... Are you telling me Roxas was involved in that?"

"Well...

"Ventus! How could you let something like that happen? Do you know how many people got hurt when those elephants stampeded?" Aqua said, "What if Roxas had gotten hurt? How would you live with yourself after that?"

"Well

"Well? Is that all you can say? I'm really disappointed in you Ventus." aqua crossed her arms, "You're grounded, go to your room."

"I'm grounded... you can't... ground me..." he said.

"I can and I just did, now got to your room." aqua pointed towards the door, "Go." Ventus sighed and walked away, "And take Roxas with you! I don't want to see any of you for at least an hour." Ventus walked up the stairs slowly, he was about to be locked in his room with Roxas for over an hour... This was serious punishment.

0.o.0.o.0

Hetalia references! I just watched the World Series dub, let me tell you guys, it was awesome. Anyway, I felt the need to make them play seeing as they haven't in while. I told you I would update sooner didn't I? So here you go, R&R!

Sorry for any mistakes in here, I tried to get rid of any as I went along but I'm really impatient sometimes.


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom hearts or anything related.

Chapter 14

"Oh my god! Ten seconds!" a girl squealed. Her friends all giggled in response. Yes, just ten seconds, well it was 5 now... maybe a little longer. Only a few more seconds until the final bell rang and everyone would be free for the summer.

"Girls, may I remind you that some people are still testing?" the teacher spoke up. The girls tried and failed at silencing their giggles. Ventus glanced around the classroom, no one was testing anymore. He tapped his pencil impatiently and waited for the bell to ring. This was the longest ten seconds ever. The bell suddenly rang and every student jumped out of their chairs.

"All right!" Lea shouted as he ran out if the room. Several followed his examples and ran into the hall. Ventus smiled to himself and started to gather his things. He was going to wait until the halls calmed down a bit before going to his car. He placed his chin in his palm and smiled, summer was finally here. No more books and no more learning, no more homework and no more tests. Just beaches and vacations and... and Sora and Roxas. His smile faltered as he realized he didn't have an excuse to get away from them anymore. Not to mention he'd have to teach them a lot of stuff before they could go to school the next year.

But still, he could take them to new places, they wouldn't have to spend so much time in town. They could go to amusement parks and to the beaches. They would have so much fun. "Ventus, you know the bell rang." someone tapped his shoulder. Ventus looked up and saw Vanitas standing over his desk, "I need a ride home." he still looked sick, in fact he looked even worse, but Ventus didn't mention it.

"Sure, hold on a sec." he grabbed his things and stood up, "Let's go." The halls had cleared out a bit but a few kids still lingered, clearing out what was left in their lockers. "Do you want to come over for dinner?" Ventus asked.

"Sure." Vanitas yawned. They walked in silence until they reached the door.

"So-"

"Shut up." Vanitas said. He walked forward and towards the parking lot. Ventus rolled his eyes and followed him. For the last 2 days Vanitas had been trying to remain distance from him, he was being as mean to him as possible. He tried to sound forceful when asking for a ride, but it didn't work.

"What's your problem Vanitas?" he asked.

"Nothing, I just don't like you." Vanitas said as they settled into the car.

"Since when?" Ventus started the car and began driving.

"My dad doesn't like you either." Vanitas said quietly. So that's what it was... He was just trying not to get in trouble. But since when did he ever worry about getting in trouble? Maybe it was because he was sick. "I'll be over at 4."

"But dinner isn't until 5." Ventus said.

"i need help with homework." Vanitas said.

"Homework." Ventus repeated, "Schoo's out."

"That's right, I really just want to talk to you about something." Vanitas said absently, "So I'll come a little earlier."

"Alright." Ventus said. They drove in silence until they reached Vanitas' house.

"Tell Aqua I want apple pie for desert." Vanitas said as he got out of the car. Ventus nodded and drove away, he wanted apple pie too.

0.o.0.o.0

"Ventus! Aqua says you don't have anymore school left!" Roxas bounced over, "We can play all day!"

"Yeah, and Aqua says we can go to the beach!"

"What's a beach?" Roxas asked, "I've never been there before."

"That's right." Ventus said, "It's pretty fun. Remember that book I read you? The one about the ocean?"

"A Day at The Shore." Sora recited.

"Exactly." Ventus said, "It's kid of the same thing."

"Really? We get to make sand castles like in the book? And play with fish and crabs?" Sora asked

"And eat sea plants!" Roxas added

"No, you don't eat the sea plants." Ventus said, "They don't taste good."

"Is Vanitas coming? And Xion too?" Sora asked.

"I doubt it." he mumbled.

"That's too bad, I bet they would have fun at a beach." Sora said.

"Yeah." Ventus nodded, "But they'll be here for dinner."

"Oh yay." Roxas said, he pushed himself up, "Come on Sora, let's go tell Aqua." Sora stood up and they both left the room. Ventus sighed and sat back, how was he going to teach them how to read? He knew already that Roxas didn't like to sit still so how would this work? He'd figure out someway, maybe he could hurry and get it out of the way... The boys returned and sat down next to him again, "she's busy now. But she said you would teach us some stuff if we left her alone."

"Huh?"

"Yeah and she said we couldn't leave the room until you were done." Sora said. Ventus sat up straight, he wanted to teach them early but not this early...

"Okay, I'll teach you how to write your names." He said. That would be easy, just teach them the alphabet and tell them what letters were used in their name. Then they could write it as much as they wanted too. "Just stay here, I'll get some things." He stood up and left the room, what did he need to teach them? He walked down the hall to Aqua's office and peeked in. "Hey Aqua..."

"What is it Ventus? I have a lot of work to do." Aqua said.

"Work?" he mumbled. Aqua owned a few restaurants, what work could she probably be doing?

"I have to fill out these reports and order some things. And a health inspector is coming soon and I have to make sure all three of my places can pass the test or they'll be closed down." Aqua explained, "I've been putting this off for a few days now but I have to do it now."

"I just wondered if you had any note cards or something." he said.

"Oh right, lessons. I think I put the stuff in the living room." Aqua said. Ventus nodded and walked away. She owned a few restaurants yet acted as if she was a big executive or something. Maybe she was though, he didn't know what work went into owning a restaurant. Restaurant... that was a weird word.

0.o.0.o.0.

"Ventus! I don't get it!" Roxas threw his white board down in frustration, "I don't want to do this anymore." He crossed his arms and puffed out his cheeks. They'd been learning to write all day but he just didn't get it. He had no ideas what any of the letters Ventus kept talking about meant. Like the _aye_, it just looked like a weird triangle.

"What don't you get Roxas?" Ventus asked, "All I told you to do was copy it down."

"Like this?" Sora held up his board, "Did I do it right?"

"Yes Sora." Ventus nodded, "Come on Roxas, pick up your board and start again."

"No, I want muffins." he mumbled.

"Muffins? Roxas... come on..." Ventus scratched his head and sighed, "I'll get you all some if you just write it down."

"Well okay." Roxas reached down and retrieved his board. Ventus had called it a dry-erase board, which was pretty cool because whatever he wrote on it could stay there for a long time and he could still erase it. But it only worked with the magic marker, a dry-erase marker.

He copied down the letter Ventus was holding up, this part was easy. But he still didn't know what it meant. "Now what?" Roxas asked.

"Uh... oh right. That letter sounds like this, Aye. But when it's lowercase it sounds like this, Ah." Ventus explained.

"What?" Roxas narrowed his eyes, "What's a lowercase?"

"This." Ventus turned the card in his hands over and showed them a different letter, "This is a lowercase A."

"What is that? There are 2 _aye's_?" Roxas copied down that letter as well, "Why?"

"I don't know." Ventus shrugged.

"You don't know?" Sora repeated, "How can you teach us if you don't know?" Roxas traced over the capitol _aye_, a few times and looked up.

"Is this all we have to learn?" he asked. He didn't quite understand how this one letter would help him read a book or even spell his name, but Ventus wouldn't have said it if it wasn't true.

"Roxas, I told you already," Ventus set the card down and picked up another one, "There are 26 letters, you've only learned one of them."

"But Ventus, 26 is a big number isn't it? It's going to take a long time to finish." Sora said.

"Not as long as you think." Ventus said, "Now, this letter here is a B."

"A _bee_?" Roxas repeated, "Like the ones that fly near flowers?"

"No, just a B. It doesn't do anything." Ventus said, "Now a B sounds like-"

"Wait, why do we have to learn it if it doesn't do anything?" Sora interrupted.

"Well it does, but only when you put it together with other words." Ventus explained, "Understand?"

"Sure." Sora mumbled, "How does it sound?"

"Unlike A, B is not a vowel so it sounds the same when it's lowercase and uppercase. It makes a buh sound."

"Buh. Bee. Why do they sound different? I like _aye_ better." Roxas said, "Kind of."

"Um okay, here's the lowercase form." Ventus said. He flipped the card and Roxas copied it down.

"Uh huh, can we learn the next one?" He asked. Ventus nodded and picked up a new one.

"Here, this ones confusing. This one is C." he said, "It can make two different sounds."

"Two? Like the _aye_?" Roxas asked as he copied the letter.

"Kind of, both lowercase and uppercase sound like this, kuh." Ventus said, "But sometimes C sounds like an S."

"What's an _ess_?" Roxas asked, "We haven't learned that yet..."

"Nope. We haven't." Sora nodded. Roxas narrowed his eyes at Ventus.

"Are you trying to confuse me? I don't get this at all." he mumbled. Roxas threw the board down again and stood up, "I'm going to pee, but you can go on without me. I don't want to do this anymore." he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Who cared about those letters? He wouldn't need them ever, he didn't need to know how to read at all. Aqua and TJ read to him whenever he felt like it.

"Roxas? What are you doing out here?" Aqua asked. Roxas jumped as Aqua moved in front of him, "You guys just started your lessons right? You aren't supposed to leave that room until you're done."

"Well... um... we're done... I think..." Roxas put his hands behind his back and stared down at the floor, if she couldn't see him then she wouldn't be able to tell he was lying.

"Are you lying to me Roxas?" Aqua asked sternly, "You know how I feel about lying."

"Huh? How'd you know?" Roxas looked up, "I wasn't even looking at you!"

"Roxas, that's how I knew you were lying." Aqua explained, "I could tell you were trying to hide something."

"So if I looked at you, you wouldn't have known I was lying?" Roxas asked

"I would have." Aqua said.

"How?" Roxas crossed his arms, now Aqua was confusing him. Why was the world so confusing?

"We can talk later, just go back in there and finish learning." Aqua gently pushed him towards the door, "I'll make you a snack for when you're done."

Roxas groaned and entered the room. "I decided to come back." he said.

"We went on without you, we're on _jee_ now." Sora said.

"What? Why'd you go on without me?" Roxas picked up his board and sat down, "Don't you want me to learn?" How could they keep learning without him? He may have told them to go on but they still should have waited for him.

o.0.o.0.o

Ventus sat down on his bed and sighed, why was this so hard? It was just the alphabet! He hadn't even taught them how to make words yet and they were already confused. Well, Roxas was confused. But that was only because he wasn't listening as much as Sora. "How about a song?" he said without thinking.

"A song?" Sora asked curiously, "You'll sing us a song? How does it go?"

"Yes, the ABC song." Ventus said, "I'll sing it for you. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y and Z. Now I know my ABC's next time won't you sing with me."

"That sounds like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Roxas pointed out.

"Who cares? Can you sing it?" Ventus asked.

"Yes! Listen," Roxas cleared his throat and stood up, "A B C D T F G H I J K L M N O T Q R S T U V W X Y and T. Now I know by ABC next time won't you sing with me!"

Uh..." Ventus scratched his head, "You said T a lot... there's only one T in that song."

"What? Only one? I think I heard you say T a lot." Roxas said, "Right Sora?"

"I don't know." Sora said, "sing it again." Ventus rolled his eyes and sang the song again, he made sure to be clear with all the letters so there was no way Roxas would get confused.

"Okay I got it. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y and Z!" Roxas said loudly, "Right?"

"Yes, perfect. Now you're turn Sora."

"I can't really remember it." He said nervously, "But... A... B...C... D... E... F... erm...G... H... I... J... K...L... M... N... O... P...Q... R... S... T... U... V... um... W... X... Y... and Z?"

"Perfect, no you two sing to yourselves while I talk to Aqua." Ventus said. He stood up and glanced at his watch, it was 4:25... Where was Vanitas? He walked down into the kitchen and got himself a drink. Maybe Vanitas wasn't coming. Aqua entered the kitchen and sat down,

"Oh boy, it's been a long day." she said, "How're the lessons going?"

"Horrible, Roxas has the attention span of a fly." he mumbled, "But I managed to get through the entire alphabet."

"That's good." Aqua said, "I'm ordering pizza for dinner."

"Alright." Ventus said. Roxas came into the kitchen.

"Oh Ventus, there you are." Roxas said, "I decided I'm done learning for today."

"Oh really?" Ventus mumbled, "Did you finish that song?"

"Yes, I can sing it a lot better then you now." Roxas pulled himself onto one of the chairs, "I'm hungry too."

"Well, dinner will be here soon and-" the doorbell rang and Aqua stood up, "I didn't think it'd be getting here this soon."

"No Aqua, I think it's Vanitas." Ventus finished his drink and stood up, he was curious to see what Vanitas had to talk about. He walked to the door and opened it, Vanitas stood with Xion and a few bags. "Uh… what's all this for?" he asked, "Did your dad kick you out or something?"

"No, I…" he glanced around before sighing, "I'll explain later alright?" He pushed past Ventus and set his things down by the door. "Come on Xion." Vanitas snapped impatiently.

"I'm hungry." Xion said, "Can we go home and eat first?"

"No, I already told you why we can't do that." Vanitas rolled his eyes and stomped away from them both.

"Come on Xion, I'll get you a snack." Ventus let her in and closed the door. He lead her into the kitchen glancing occasionally at Vanitas. He was leaning against a wall having a staring contest with the floor. Curiosity filled his mind as he wondered what Vanitas could possibly talk to him about. "Hey Aqua, can you get her a snack? I need to talk to Vanitas." he said absently.

"Ventus I can't." Aqua started, "I have to-" Ventus left the kitchen before she could finish and started for the stairs. He felt a little guilty for leaving her to watch the kids when she had so much work to do but still, he needed to talk to Vanitas.

"Come on." he said.

"Alright, but we have to hurry." Vanitas pushed him forward, "This is... important."

"What's this about? What are you doing with all your stuff?" Ventus asked, "Are you moving here? Did your dad kick you out?"

"No." Vanitas said.

"Then what?" Ventus turned and looked Vanitas over, "What are you planning?" Vanitas rolled his eyes and pushed by him, "Answer me."

"I need to borrow some money." Vanitas said finally. He reached the top of the stairs an headed into Ventus' room.

"Money... Money for what?" Ventus asked slowly, "Wait... hold on..." He thought it over in his head and his eyes widened. "No way! You're-" He hurried into the room, "Vanitas? Are you..."

"Yes." Vanitas cut him off, "I'm running away, and I'm taking Xion with me."

0.o.0.o.0

Bummmmm! Sorry for the wait, I was sooo busy. Gaah, I'm going to stop here before I start ranting. Enjoy the chapter and i'll update soon... I've said that before haven't I? This time it's for real though!


	16. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything related.

Chapter 15

"What... what... What?" Ventus sat down on the bed, "You can't..."

"Why not? Are you going to miss me?" Vanitas smirked and Ventus glared in return.

"Vanitas this isn't funny." He snapped, "Your dad would call the police before you even left town. You'd get arrested for kidnapping."

"And?"

"Well, then Xion will be left alone with _him._" Ventus said, "You don't want that right?"

"I can't stay there Ventus. You really don't understand." Vanitas crossed his arms and closed the door.

"I know I don't understand, but I know you'll get in a lot of trouble if you do this."

"I was going to fly out of this place." Vanitas said, "I was going to try and find my grandma or someone."

"I can't let you do that."

"And you'd let me go back to him?" Vanitas growled, "I shouldn't have even come here."He turned around and sighed, "I'm leaving whether you like it or not. I just thought you'd help me."

"Vanitas... really..." Ventus stood up, "I don't want you to go home really... but you can't run away."

"Then what do I do Ventus?" Vanitas snapped, "Let me know, if I can't go back there and I can't leave town, where can I go?"

"You can stay here." Ventus suggested.

"No thank you." Vanitas rolled his eyes.

"Why not?" Ventus asked, "You like it here don't you? I know Xion does."

"Well, this is really close to dad Ventus." Vanitas said, "He'll be able to find me."

"Maybe Aqua can work something out." Ventus suggested. He ran through the options in his head. Vanitas didn't look like he would change his mind anytime soon, but he couldn't just let them go again. "How about you stay just tonight? Make sure you're well rested and full before you go." he tried.

"No Ventus, I can't." He opened the door and left the room. Ventus hurried after him.

"I'll tell Aqua, and she won't let you go." Ventus said, "I'm serious."

"I shouldn't have asked you for help Ventus..." Vanitas mumbled. He entered the kitchen and Ventus stopped. If he could only get Vanitas to stay one more night...

He walked into the kitchen and looked around. Vanitas was fuming near the fridge and Aqua was talking on the phone. She glanced between the two of them and hing up the phone. "That was your dad Vanitas." she said.

Vanitas cleared his throat, "So? What did he want?" he asked.

"He said you'll have to be home by tomorrow." Aqua said, "But you can stay here as long as you need."

"No thanks Aqua, I'll be leaving tomorrow." Vanitas said quietly.

"Alright, but the offers is always here." Aqua said. The doorbell rang and she walked towards the door, "Get comfortable." Vanitas nodded and leaned against the fridge. Aqua left the kitchen and Xion looked up.

"How come you keep frowning?" she asked, "Roxas said you were a happy person."

"What?" Ventus looked away from Vanitas and turned his eyes to Xion, "What do you mean?"

"Well, Roxas said you were really nice and today you taught them a song. But now you seem sad." she said, "Kind of like Vanitas, he's never happy."

"I can be happy." Vanitas said.

"No you can't." Roxas said, "All you do is frown!" Vanitas crossed his arms and forced a smile on his face.

"I can be happy." he repeated.

"Oh look, doesn't he look handsome?" Sora said, "He has a soft face and he's handsome."

"Can you play the piano?" Roxas asked.

"A little." Vanitas shrugged. The smile melted away and Roxas whispered something to Xion.

"It's true." Xion said, "He could be in a movie."

"The muffin god movie." Sora said, "Ventus can we make a movie?"

"Sure." Ventus shrugged, that sounded pretty fun, and it would distract Vanitas... hopefully...

Aqua came back into the kitchen with the pizza. "Are you boys hungry?" she asked.

"Well," Xion started, "I'm hungry, I'm not a boy but I'm still hungry."

"Alright, I have cheese and pepperoni here." Aqua placed the pizzas onto the table and sat down, "Eat up!" she opened the boxes and motioned for them to come eat, "Come on Vanitas, I can see the hunger in your eyes."

"I'm not that hungry." Vanitas mumbled as he stepped towards the food. Ventus waited until everyone had gotten a slice before he took one for himself.

"So Vanitas, i've cleaned up the guest room, you can stay in there tonight." Aqua said.

"I won't be here long Aqua, I think I'll be leaving tonight." Vanitas said.

"I don't think so." Aqua said, "I stayed on the phone for 30 minutes this morning just convincing your dad to let you stay."

"You what?" Vanitas almost dropped his pizza, "Why would you do that? You'll get yourself in trouble."

"Your dad can't touch me if that's what you mean." Aqua said, "Just stay the night Vanitas." Vanitas set his pizza slice back in the box and sighed.

"You didn't have to do that." he said, "Really, you didn't."

"What are you guys talking about?" Roxas asked, "I don't get it."

"Who cares, did you know I can sing my ABC's now?" Sora asked Xion.

"I can do that too." Xion said.

"No you can't." Roxas said, "Because Ventus didn't teach you so it's not possible."

"Uh huh!" Xion said, "Vanitas teached me a while ago."

"Teached isn't even a word! Right Ventus?" Roxas turned to Ventus, "Tell her that teached isn't even a word."

The night continued like that for a while before everyone went to bed. Ventus tucked Sora and Roxas into his bed and sat at his desk. He needed to do something about Vanitas, he was going to get himself into trouble. A yawn escaped his lips and he put his head down, he could possibly rest a little...

0.o.0.o.0

Vanitas crept down the stairs and towards the door. It was 3 in the morning but he really needed to go before Ventus woke up and tried to talk him out of it. He shifted Xion in his arms and tried to grab his bags too. Xion squirmed and he almost dropped her. "Cut it out." he hissed.

"Having trouble?" he heard. He twirled around and saw Ventus standing behind him.

"Ventus, you cant stop me... I'm going." Vanitas said. He couldn't let Ventus stop him, it was really important that he got away. At least it was important for Xion to get away, and she couldn't survive on her own so he had to go e\with her.

"I know, I thought about it for a while." he said. Vanitas could feel the guilt in his voice and it made him feel a little bad, but just a little. He couldn't let other people's feelings get in his way. "That's why I'm giving you this..." Ventus held out an envelope, "That's the money i've been saving for... well nothing actually... it's $500."

"Ventus..." he stared at the envelope, "I can't..." what was he saying? He came here for money and now he was getting it, so why wouldn't he take it? "I can't take your money." he said.

"What? You've been fine doing it any other time." Ventus said, "Why won't you take it when I want you to have it?"

"I just can't." Vanitas turned away. He was a little angry with himself but he ignored it.

"No, you have to take it." Ventus stepped closer, "Come on, I can drive you to the airport and everything. You can find your grandma like you wanted."

"No..." Vanitas shook his head, "I mean... yeah... alright, I'll do it."

"Okay come on before Aqua wakes up." Ventus stepped by him and picked up his bags. Vanitas absently hugged Xion closer and followed Ventus out the door. His heart raced as he finally realized what he was about to do. He was about to kidnap his little sister.

"To save her..." he told himself quietly. This was all for her, he'd be done with school in a few years and off to college. He couldn't take her to college and everything he'd done to protect her would be for nothing, she'd just get hurt once he left.

"Vanitas, come on." Ventus opened the door and got in, he started the car and waited, "We have to go now."

Vanitas hurried and placed Xion into the back seat. He then climbed into the passenger seat and nodded at Ventus, "Altogether I have $1300. Do you think that's enough?"

"Depends on where your going." Ventus said, "Where does your grandma live?"

"I don't know, she might be dead." Vanitas said.

"What? Did you just pull this idea out of your nose? Didn't you plan?" Ventus asked.

"I just thought of it this morning actually. The only plan I had was flying away." He admitted. Maybe he should've done a little more planning.

"Vanitas, what will you do if you get caught." Ventus asked, "What will you do if they arrest you?"

"We talked about this already." Vanitas said.

"But you didn't think about it." Ventus said, "But if you get arrested Xion will e sent right back to your father, and he'll be angry."

Vanitas closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat, he didn't want to think about that. It wouldn't happen, he wouldn't get caught. "I won't get caught." He said. Ventus sighed and sped up the car, "I'm serious, it won't happen."

"Alright." Ventus said. But it was obvious he didn't believe him. But why should he? There's no way he was going to get away with kidnapping, it would be all over the news. That is if his dad figured out he'd run away, which he wouldn't, not until after a few days at least. But by that time he'd be long gone.

"Huh?" Vanitas opened his eyes and looked over, "The others?"

"Yes." Ventus said blankly, "Sora. . .Roxas. . .Aqua. . .TJ, all of them. They'd miss you."

"No they wouldn't. Sora and Roxas only like me because I can bake muffins. And Aqua. . ." he trailed off, "Well, she just thinks I'm another charity case."

"No she doesn't." Ventus snapped, "You know she doesn't."

Vanitas rolled his eyes, "Yeah I know, but I'm not changing my mind about this." He really wanted Ventus to stop talking, nothing he was saying was helping the situation. "What would you do in my shoes? If you had no other choice, you can't tell me that you'd just sit by and watch everything happen."

Ventus didn't respond, instead he drove and drove and drove. Vanitas glanced back at Xion and sighed, this was for her, everything was for her sake.

"We're here." Ventus said quietly.

"This is the train station." Vanitas pointed out.

"Yes it is, I figure you can get further for less money or something like that." Ventus shrugged.

Vanitas got out of the car and went to get Xion, "This is your last chance Vanitas, your last chance to get a ride from me at least."

"Thanks for the ride." Vanitas mumbled in response, and in return, Ventus just nodded and drove off. Vanitas stood near the doors of the train station and watched after the car, even if he had been willing to change his mind, it was too late now.

He shifted Xion in his arms and started for the door, he had $1300 total, where could that take him? He'd see once he got there most likely. He entered the building and sat down on a nearby bench. Right next to him was a sigh advertising ticket prices and different routes. "$45 per ticket. . . Memphis. . ." he looked away and closed his eyes. He still had time to think about the destination.

"Mommy, why'd we come so early?" a little boy asked sleepily. Vanitas opened his eyes and looked at the boy. He was blonde with blue eyes and wearing an iron man shirt. "Mommy!" He reminded him of Roxas. Xion opened her eyes and yawned.

"It's really bright." She said sleepily.

"I know, just go back to bed." Vanitas whispered.

"But it's bright." Xion whined, "I can't sleep when it's bright."

"Just be quiet then." Vanitas snapped. The young girl wiggled out of his arms and onto the floor.

"Where are we?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes, "Are we going somewhere?" Vanitas chose not to answer; instead he looked around, noticing for the first time that there were several guards staring at him. "Vanitas, you forgot your bags." Xion pointed out. But he wasn't listening to her anymore. He was too busy looking around. "Vanitas?"

"Be quiet Xion." He said, "I'm busy." Xion rolled her eyes and climbed onto the bench next to him. She leaned against his arm and closed her eyes, "Don't get comfortable, we need to go." He said. There were too many people watching him for them to stay. He stood up and took her hand.

"Vanitas, that boy looks like Roxas." Xion said.

"Quiet." Vanitas reminded. A wave of paranoia hit him as he noticed a guard walking towards them. He bit his lip and forced himself back onto the bench, just act natural. He pulled Xion down beside his and waited. The guard got closer and his heart almost stopped, were the really about to get caught? His dad didn't even know he was gone yet, the only one who knew was Ventus. . . Did Venus tell the police? He wouldn't have. . . not after he helped him get out here. But Ventus had been so desperate for him to change his mind, maybe he did.

0.o.0.o.0

Ventus curled up on the couch feeling guilty as ever. He shouldn't have driven him down there, now he could be charged as an accessory to kidnap or something. But maybe Vanitas wouldn't get caught, he may not have planned much but he seemed confident that he wouldn't get caught.

"Ventus, why'd you get out of the bed?" Sora came into the living room and sat down near his feet, "It's 5 in the morning." he yawned, "I know because that clock has a five on it."

Ventus looked over at the clock, "Sora, it's 3:25." he said.

"But there's a 5." he said.

"And a 3 and a 2." Ventus said, "What are you doing up?"

"Roxas started snoring really loud and I fell out of the bed." Sora yawned again.  
>"Well come on, let's go back up there." Ventus stood up and yawned. Sora slid off of the couch and took his hand. They had just stepped onto the first step when the doorbell rang.<p>

"Who is it?" Sora asked. Ventus shrugged, maybe it was Vanitas' dad, maybe he'd realized what happened already. Ventus bit his lip and tried to come up with a story. He'd tell him that Vanitas never showed up, but that wouldn't work because Aqua had already told him that Vanitas was over and would be staying the night. The doorbell rang again and he sighed. He'd come up with something. "Come on, go get the door." Sora pushed him forward.

Ventus walked over to the door and took a breath, he placed his hand on the doorknob and opened the door. "Hey. . ." he said before he gasped, "Vanitas?"  
>"Yeah?" Vanitas stepped into the house and crossed his arms, "What is it?"<p>

"You came back?" Ventus asked. He smiled inside but struggled to keep a straight face outside, what made him come back? Was he finally coming to his senses or was he just scared?

"When did you leave?" Sora asked curiously, "You must be really sneaky, because I didn't hear you."  
>"Why'd you come back?" Ventus asked.<p>

"Did you not want me to come back?" Vanitas asked.

"I did but, you said nothing was going to change your mind." Ventus said, "Why'd you change your mind?"

"Well, I just felt like it." Vanitas said, "Come on Xion, let's get back to bed." Vanitas walked by them and up the stairs with Xion following slowly. Ventus watched after, he still wanted to know the real reason Vanitas had come back, but he decided to drop it, Vanitas was back and that's all that mattered. Until the morning that was. . .

"Well, come on Ventus. Let's go to sleep." Sora yawned, "It's 3:25."

Ventus looked at the nearest clock again, "It's 3:31 Sora."

"But you just said it was 3:25." Sora reminded, "Were you lying?"

"No, it was 3:25. 6 minutes ago." Ventus said as they walked up the stairs.

"Now that I know the alphabet, will you teach me how to spell my name?"

"Tomorrow." Ventus promised.

"And can we take a bath?"

"Sure."

"Together?" Sora asked

"Ahh. . . sure." Ventus nodded. They entered his room and Ventus took off his shoes.

"How come your shoes are on? Did you leave the house?" Sora sked.

"My feet were cold, now get in the bed." Sora climbed into the bed and looked over to Ventus.

"How old are you?"

"16." Ventus answered as he got into bed. He curled up under the blanket and tried to sleep.

"Will you be getting a job like Aqua? Or will you get married or something?" Sora asked quietly.

"Married?" Ventus repeated, "Not for another 50 years."

"So you'll have time to stay with me and Roxas?" Sora asked hopefully.  
>"Well I'll be leaving for college." Ventus said thoughtlessly, "But I'll come back." he added quickly.<p>

"I don't want you to leave." Sora said, "If you leave, Aqua will too. Then we'll have to go back to Vexen and he was stupid."

"Sora, if I leave I'll come back. And Aqua wouldn't send you guys back to Vexen." Ventus said, "Don't worry about any of that stuff."

"Okay." Sora said, "But how long does college last?"

"We'll talk about it later." Ventus yawned, "Now go to bed." Sora sighed loudly and closed his eyes.

"Why did Vanitas leave?" he asked.

"Go to bed." Ventus said again.

"But I want to know." Sora pressed, "I'll ask Aqua if you don't tell me."

"No you won't." Ventus said tiredly.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow, but only because you're getting tired." Sora yawned himself and eventually fell asleep. Ventus sighed quietly, and after another hour, he fell asleep himself.

0.o.0.o.0

What a dumb place to end the chapter. . .


	17. Easter Chapter

Easter Chapter

Bunnies were for girls, especially the pink ones. That's why Xion and Kairi liked them so much. But he hated them, the jumped too much and according to Vanitas, they had a billion babies every 2 days. That was way too many babies.

"I'm going to draw a bunny on my egg Roxas." Xion said. See? Girls loved bunnies.

"Well I'm drawing a shark on mine." Roxas picked up the white crayon and started to draw. He couldn't see what he was drawing yet but once he put it in the dye, everyone would be able to see the shark.

"You know Easter is for bunnies and eggs." Aqua said.

"Bunnies don't lay eggs." Roxas said, "Right Ventus?"

"Right, so I don't understand why they have rabbits and eggs together." Ventus mumbled.

"Because both rabbits and eggs can symbolize life. Bunnies have a lot of babies and eggs hatch babies." Aqua said.

"Eggs hatch babies?" Roxas asked curiously, he dropped his egg into the dye and waited, "How come we eat them then?"

"Well the eggs we eat aren't babies." Aqua said. Roxas sat back in his chair and looked around, Sora was coloring all over his egg with the white crayon, Ventus was playing with his phone, Xion was still drawing her bunny and Vanitas was eating something.

"How come you're painting your egg Aqua?" Roxas asked, "Why don't you dye it?"

"Because it will look beautiful if you paint it." Aqua said.

"And they'll be ugly if we don't paint it?" Sora asked absently.

"Well, not exactly." Aqua said, "They won't be as detailed." Roxas slid out of his chair while everyone was listening to Aqua, he was so bored. He hurried out of the kitchen and into the dining room.

"Roxas!" Xion came up behind him, "Look at my egg!"

"Shhh!" Roxas put a finger to his lips, "We need to be quiet or they'll make us go back in there."

"But look, my egg is finished." Xion held out her egg, "Isn't it pretty?"

"Hmm, there's a baby in that egg." Roxas took it, "I want to get it out."

"Get it out?" Xion reached for the egg, "No, it can't come out."

"Why not?" Roxas stepped back, "All babies can come out of wherever they hide." he shook the egg up.

"No stop!" Xion snatched it back, "You're doing it all wrong. You have to make the egg comfortable and keep it warm, it it feels safe it will come out. But if it's scared it'll die."

"How to we make it comfortable?" Roxas asked.

"With pillows and blankets." Xion set the egg down carefully on a chair, "I'll get a blanket, you get some pillows." Roxas nodded and went to find some. He couldn't use the living room pillows, they were covered in beads and designs. Ventus' pillows were too flat because people slept on them too much. But Aqua's pillows were fluffy. She hardly ever slept on them because she worked a lot, they would be perfect. He rushed up the stairs to Aqua's room and grabbed as many as he could. He saw Xion going into the storage closet and he rushed back into the dining room. He threw the blankets down and walked over to the chair that held the egg.

"I'm going to name you Alowishus." he whispered. What would the baby look like when it was born? A bunny? A bird? A person? He hoped it was a person. . . . People babies were really cute. He saw one when Ventus took them to the skate park. It couldn't walk by itself but it was really cute and he wanted one.

"Roxas, I couldn't find blankets so I just got towels." Xion dumped the towels by the pillows and started to arrange them for the egg, "How long will it take to hatch?"

"I don't know." Roxas shrugged.

"Hey why'd you leave the kitchen." Sora walked over, "Your egg finished Roxas." Sora held out his egg and Roxas ran over.

"We can hatch this one too." he put it next to Xion's egg and looked over to Xion, "Is the bed ready?"

"Yes, bring them over." Xion stepped back and watched Roxas place the eggs in the nest she'd created.

"Hey I want to hatch my egg too." Sora held out his egg, "I want a baby."

"Then put him in the middle." Roxas pointed, "and Xion go find a book to read to them, that will make them really comfortable." Xion nodded and hurried out of the room to find a book. Sora sat down near the eggs and sighed.

"Oh I bet they'll be pretty." he said.

"You have no idea what they'll look like." Roxas said, "But mine is going to be handsome just like Ventus is." Xion returned with the book and handed it to Roxas. "Why are you giving it to me? I don't know how to read."

"I don't either." Xion said, "But I bet Sora does."

"No, I can't." Sora shook his head. Roxas bit his lip and thought. Maybe if he just looked at the pictures he'd be able to tell what it said.

"I'll read it." he took the book from Xion and sat near the eggs, "Get comfortable." He opened it up and looked over the first page. There was a spider, he hated spiders. But this spider was trying to walk up a really long gray thing. Maybe it was a pipe or something. It started raining and the spider fell off, probably because the pipe got wet. But why was this spider even trying to climb a pipe anyway? There were pipes under the sinks in the kitchen, were there spiders on there? No. . . because it rained in the book so there was no way that could happen in his house. He turned the page again and noticed the spider was climbing back up the pipe. Well, Aqua once said that if at first you don't succeed, you should try again. But the spider had no reason to be climbing all the way up a pipe.

Unless. . .

It was climbing the pipe to get to the sink that was holding the veggies that Aqua was washing for dinner! How dare that spider, if he was around, he would have crushed the spider before it could ruin Aqua's food. "Stupid spider. . ." Roxas mumbled.

"Your supposed to be reading out loud." Sora reminded.

"No, that book is dumb." Roxas closed the book and shoved it under the table, "Let's just wait for them to hatch. I think that's all we need to do for them to be born now."

"We have to sit on it." Sora said, "That's how the birdies on the TV do it."

"Well..." Roxas thought it over, "This isn't actually a bird egg. It's a people egg."

"People don't come from eggs." Sora said, "People are mammals and most mammals don't lay eggs."

"What?" Xion blinked, "What's a mammal? Do you mean animal?"

"No, I mean mammal. . ." Sora said.

"No, you mean animal. And animals do lay eggs." Roxas said, "Now, back to the first thing."

"Do we sit on it?" Xion asked, "It won't break will it?"

"Not if you sit on it, because you're smaller than the rest of us." Sora said. Xion nodded and walked over to the pile of blankets. She slowly sat down and waited. "I'm naming my egg Hubert."

"I'm naming Xion's Alowishus." Roxas said, "I saw that name on TV. It's for smart people."

"You can't name my egg!" Xion said, "Name your own."

"I did, I named it Sharky." Roxas said, "But I had to name yours too." Xion crossed her arm and shook her head.

"I'm naming her Lily." She said.

Roxas rolled his eyes, Lily was a girl name and all these eggs were going to be boys. "It has to be Alowishus because he's a boy and he's going to be a genius." He explained. This egg would grow up and get rich and take them all over the world, but it couldn't if Xion named it Lily.

"My egg is a girl Roxas." Xion said firmly, "I know because-" she stopped short and gasped. Her look changed from shocked to angry, then to sad. "Oh no. . ."

"What?" Roxas asked. Maybe she'd finally realized how dumb of a name Lily was and was upset.

"You didn't hear that Roxas?" Sora asked. Roxas turned to his older brother and saw he looked shocked as well.

"Hear what?" Roxas asked. Xion bit her lip and stood slowly, "Did they hatch?" he asked. He stepped closer and looked down at the eggs. His smile disappeared and he stepped away, "What happened?" he asked sadly.

"They died. . ." Sora shook his head.

"How?" Roxas asked. He fell to his knees and crossed his arms. How did this happen? He, Alowishus, and Sharky were supposed to go far and be millionaires. But now they were dead. . . "How did they die?" he asked again.

"I. . ." Xion started, "I squished them. . ."

Roxas glared at her, then Sora, then the eggs, then Xion again. "How? Sora said you couldn't because you were too little!" he stood up, "I'm telling!" He ran out of the dining room and into the kitchen, "Aqua!"

"Roxas, there's no need to shout. I'm, right here." Aqua said sternly, "Now what is it?" He ran over to her and hugged her legs.

"Xion killed my babies." He cried, "And now my life is over."

"You had a baby? With who?" Vanitas asked.

"Xion and Sora," Roxas wiped his eyes, "but it doesn't matter because Xion put her fat butt on them and they all died."

"Wait, where'd you get babies?" Ventus asked.

"They were going to hatch from our eggs." Roxas explained.

"I don't think so." Vanitas said, "Those eggs were boiled already so anything inside them were dead before we started dying them."

"Who boiled them?" Roxas asked.

"Aqua." Ventus answered. Roxas' eyes widened and he pushed himself away from Aqua.

"It was you! You killed my kids!" he shouted.

"Roxas, you really need to work on your inside voice." Aqua said. Roxas looked up at Aqua, she wasn't even listening to him, nobody was. Aqua just wanted him to shut up so she could paint, Vanitas just wanted to eat his food and Ventus was, well maybe Ventus was listening, he couldn't tell.

"Aqua, why don't you care that you killed my only family?" He ran out of the kitchen before they could answer.

0.o.0.o.0

"What the heck was that?" Vanitas asked slowly, "He had babies with Xion _and_ Sora? How is that even possible?"

"Cut it out Vanitas, he's really upset." Ventus said.

"I think you have a bigger problem on your hands, Roxas thinks boiled eggs are his only family." Vanitas said.

"A bigger what?" Aqua asked blankly.

"Were you even listening to him? He was crying his eyes out to you." Ventus said.

"Does this look like a bird?" she held out her egg to him, "I was never good at painting birds." Ventus sighed, of course she hadn't been listening. He'd have to go up there and talk to Roxas himself. The kitchen door opened and Sora and Xion entered slowly.

"Vanitas. . . I got egg on my pants." Xion said quietly.

"What happened to Roxas?" Sora scanned the room, "Did he tell on us?"

"He did." Vanitas said, "Come on Xion, you need to change your pants." Vanitas took Xion out of the room.

"I didn't mean to squish them you know." Xion told Ventus as she left the room.

"She didn't, I told her too."

"You told her to squish those eggs?" Aqua asked. She set down her egg and paint brush, "Why would you do that?"

Sora put his hands behind his back and frowned, "Well. . . I saw on TV that birds sit on their eggs. So I got Xion to do it because she's little." he looked up to Ventus, "But I didn't know they would die."

"Well, people are a lot heavier then birds." Ventus said, "Hey, where did you guys try to hatch those eggs?"

"In the dining room." Sora said.

"I'll clean it up, come on Sora." Aqua stood up and led Sora away. That meant he had to talk to Roxas about his "babies" He stood up, grabbed one of the eggs he'd dyed, and left for his room. He'd have to show Roxas that these types of eggs were food not people.

"Roxas?" he entered his room and found Roxas messing around in his closet, "What are you doing?"

"I read a book about a spider climbing up a pipe so I'm going to go down into the kitchen and kill it."

"What?" Ventus blinked, "Um. . ." he stood in silence, should he remind Roxas of the eggs or just let him kill spiders? "Hey remember those eggs. . ."

"Yeah? They died." Roxas pulled a toy shovel bat from the closet, "And I'm hungry." Ventus rolled his eyes, how could he get over it that fast? "Can I have a boiled egg?"

"Are you serious?" Ventus asked, "Those are dead babies remember?" There was no way he got over the eggs that fast! Not even 5 minutes ago he was on the floor crying over the loss of his "babies"

"Um, Vanitas said they aren't. He said that the farm people only take the eggs that will never have babies so we can eat them and they keep the other eggs for themselves." Roxas said, "So these eggs were never babies."

"What?" Ventus sat down on his bed, "Vanitas told you that?"

"Yeah." Roxas said. He left the room and Ventus fell back onto his bed. He was supposed to tell him that. . .

0.o.0.o.0

Sora stepped outside with the remains of his babies. He needed to hurry and have a funeral for them before anyone else showed. Any grown up people that is.

"I dug the whole Sora." Roxas said softly, "Put them in." Sora nodded and gently set the box into the hole.

"Now what?" Xion asked.

"We have to say words." Roxas said.

"Okay, I'll start." Sora cleared his throat, "They were beautiful eggs, mine was green. . . We will never forget the way they sat in the nest Xion made. . ."

"Or that Xion squashed them. . ." Roxas mumbled.

"Or that Aqua boiled them to death. . ." Xion added in her defense.

"Yeah, we won't forget any of that." Sora nodded, "But mostly we won't forget how brave I was when I rescued their squished bodies from Aqua's broom."

"This isn't about you Sora." Roxas said.

"No, it's not." Sora sighed, "Do you have anything to say Roxas?"

"I do." He stepped forward, "I want you to know. . ." he looked down at the pile of eggs, "Even though you were never born, I still love you." He sniffled and stepped back, "Xion?"

"I;m sorry I squished you. . ." she said quietly, "I just wanted you to be warm so you could be born."

"Are we all finished?" Sora asked, "We need to bury them now." Roxas picked up the toy shovel and began to cover the eggs with dirt.

"Here's the gravestone." Xion held out a rock, "We can put it right on top of the grave." Roxas nodded and took the rock. It was a large gray rock that she'd written on with pink chalk. . . pink? "We can't have pink words. They were all boys!"

"Who cares?" Sora snapped, "You have no idea if it was a boy or a girl, you just wanted it to be a boy."

Roxas looked away and placed the gravestone, "Come on." Sora took Xion's hand and led her into the house. Roxas stayed behind and stared down at the gravestone, he could barely read any of it but that didn't matter, all he knew was that underneath the rock were his children.

He lingered a few minutes before walking back into the house. It was still bright outside but he just wanted to sleep. He hurried upstairs into Ventus' room. "Did you kill that spider Roxas?" Ventus asked. He was standing near the window and looking out.

"Yeah, I killed it." Roxas said quietly. He climbed into the bed and shoved his face into a pillow, "If you don't mind Ventus, I'd like to be alone." he mumbled.

"Alright." Ventus said. Roxas heard him walk out of the room and he sighed again. He never wanted to almost be a parent again. But maybe this was a blessing in disguise, he was way too young to take care of a baby.

0.o.0.o.0

"He's weird." Vanitas mumbled, "They all are."

"And you're insensitive." Ventus said.

"Yeah? Well at least I'm not crying over eggs." Vanitas said, he noticed the glare Ventus was giving him and sighed, "Why don't we dye some just like there's and give them those I bet that would make them happy."

"That's actually not a bad idea. . ." Ventus sat down and took three eggs, "This shouldn't take long." and it didn't, they had the eggs dyed in less then 20 minutes. Ventus put them in a basket and carried them upstairs with Vanitas following slowly behind.

"They really had a funeral for eggs?" he asked.

"Yeah, and they looked pretty upset." Ventus stopped in front of his door, "Here, you give these to Sora and Xion." He tipped the basket towards Vanitas.

Vanitas took out the two eggs and went to find them while Ventus entered his room.

"I said I want to be alone." Roxas mumbled.

"Yeah well I have a surprise for you." Ventus closed the door.

"What?"

"Well I was outside and I found this grave," at that, Roxas shot up. He turned towards Ventus and bit his lip.

"You didn't touch it did you?" he asked worriedly.

"I did, and guess what I found." he held up the egg, "Turns out he wasn't dead, he just needed time to heal up."

"Really?" Roxas asked skeptically. He crawled out of bed and looked the egg over, "He's all better now?"

"He is." Ventus handed him the egg, "Now why don't you put him somewhere safe?" He patted Roxas' head and left the room. He felt a lot better now that Roxas wasn't crying his eyes out into his pillow. He headed back into the kitchen and found Aqua on the floor wiping up something. "What happened?"

"I dropped one of the eggs I painted," she said with a sigh, "Poor baby didn't even get to have its picture taken."

"Poor baby. . ." he repeated slowly, "Baby?" It all made sense now. . . "It's your fault they think these eggs are babies!"

"What?" Aqua stood up, "What do you mean."

"Whenever you're around food, you talk to it like it's alive. You influenced them and now they thunk food is alive!"

"What? Are you serious?" Aqua sat down, "I guess your right."

"I know I'm right." Ventus nodded, "Now you have to explain to them that food isn't alive anymore."

"Yeah, I probably should." Aqua stood up, "I'll do that right after I finish cleaning up in here."

"No way! You can't do it now! I just replaced Roxas' old baby, if you tell him now, he'll know I was lying!" Ventus explained, "You have to wait until he forgets."

"I think it'd be better to tell him now." Aqua said thoughtfully.

"No." Ventus said, "You can't."

"Stop acting so stubborn Ventus, you just don't want to get caught." Aqua resumed cleaning the floor, "But if you really think I should wait, I will."

Ventus nodded and left the kitchen, he'd dodged two bullets today. He saw Roxas coming down the stairs with the egg.

"Hey Ventus, I remembered that Vanitas said these kind of eggs weren't alive." Roxas said.

"Yeah." Ventus said slowly, It looks like he'd spoken too soon. . .

"And earlier, Sora said that mammals didn't lay eggs. He also said that people were mammals." Roxas continued, "So I was thinking. . ."

"What?" Ventus asked cautiously, he had a feeling he knew what Roxas would ask next.

"If people don't have eggs, then where do babies come from?" Roxas stood and waited for an answer and Ventus tried to prevent himself from running away, how did he answer this again?"

"Uh. . ." he started, "Trees. Babies come from trees."

To Be Continued. . .

0.o.0.o.0

This chapter made me sad. . . I know there are so many gramatical errors but I can't bring myslef to look for them. :(


	18. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything related.

Chapter 16

Roxas sighed, he could do this! He was a big boy! He didn't need Ventus, nope, not at all. "why are you looking at it like that?" Sora asked.  
>"Silence!" Roxas shouted, "This takes focus."<br>"Hurry it up!" Sora said, "I'm sleepy."  
>Roxas glared at his older brother. Did no one understand? He needed to do this or he'd be a child forever! "Sora, there comes a time in every mans life. . ." he sighed, "There comes a time for a man to be a man. And that time is now!" He stepped forward nervously and stared at the obsticle in front of him. His bed.<br>Aqua had decided long ago that he and Sora should stop sharing a room with Ventus, "They're getting used to being away from Vexen, they don't need you anymore." she had said. Roxas would have strongly disagreed if not for the fact that Vanitas dubbed him a chicken. And he couldn't live with that title, nope, not in this life.  
>Aqua gave them her office, which Sora thought was awesome. But Roxas thought it was too close to the bathroom, which would certainly lead to disaster. "Roxas! Just do it already!" Sora sighed, "Or I'm going to go to bed."<br>"But you can't. I need you to watch." Roxas said as he took another step towards the bed. He wasn't sure if the bed would be soft or warm or cozy like the bed Ventus had. What if it was cold and hard like the one Vexen used to make them sleep on? What if the boogeyman rose up from under the bed and snatched him away? Ventus wouldn't be able to stop him because he was all the way down the hall. "Sora? How about you sleep over here?" Roxas asked. He looked towards his brother, "So you don't get scared."  
>Sora climbed into his own bed and shook his head, "No thanks, you wet the bed."<br>"Not all the time." Roxas said.  
>Aqua entered the room and sighed, "Why aren't you guys in bed yet?" she asked.<br>"Roxas is scared." Sora said as he snuggled under his new blankets.  
>"Am not!" Roxas shouted defensively, "I just. . . Like to sleep with Ventus."<br>"I understand Roxas, but you are a big boy aren't you? Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to depend on Ventus for everything?" She asked.  
>"No." Roxas mumbled stubbornly.<br>"I bet it would make him really happy if you slept here tonight." Aqua said, "He'll see you as a big boy, and you know what that means right?"  
>"I get to stay up an extra hour?" Roxas asked.<br>"Yes, and you know what that means?"  
>"I get to play more?" Roxas asked. That sounded nice, an hour of more play time meant. . .an hour of more Ventus! "Right, I can do this." He climbed into the bed and wrestled with the blankets. They were race car blankets, the only kind a man such as himself should sleep under. "Can I have a race car Aqua? A real one?" he asked.<br>"What would you do with it?" she asked.  
>"A bunch of stuff. I would drive to the park, and to the carnival, and to the store, and to the park again, and to the carnival again, then to here. . . I would go everywhere." Roxas yawned, "You can come too."<br>"That sounds wonderful." Aqua turned out the lights and left the room. Roxas drifted in and out for a few minutes before sleep came, when he woke up in the morning, he would get an entire hour of playtime. A whole hour!  
>0.o.0.o.0<br>There was something heavy on his chest, usually the pressure meant that Sora or Roxas had rolled over onto him but that wasn't possible now. Roxas had gone to sleep in his own bed and so had Sora. The bed felt strangely empty npw, but he welcomed the extra room.  
>Wait, so what was on his chest? He cracked his eyes open and noticed a familiar face, "Roxas?" he questioned.<br>"Heeeeyyyy Ventus. . ." Roxas said slowly.  
>"What are you doing in here?" He searched for the clock, "It's4 in the morning."<br>"I heard the boogeyman, so I came in here." Roxas explained, "But I spent all night in there so I still get an hour of extra play time."  
>Ventus blinked and sighed, why did he think that Roxas would be able to quit in his room just like that? He pushed Roxas off of him and let the boy snuggle up to his side. He felt movement on the other side and sighed again, "Sora?" he asked.<br>"Yes?" Sora asked.  
>"Why are you in my bed?" he asked, "were you scared too?"<br>"No, I just missed sleeping here with you." Sora answered truthfully. Ventus nodded and closed his eyes again. He would never say it out loud, but he had missed them sleeping there too.  
>0.o.0.o.0<br>I'm getting rusty! I haven't updated this in forever. Mostly because I have trying to get the next chapter right. I have the idea yet I can't get it out right. But I promise it will come soon because *Sniff Sniff* I love you guys.  
>Thanks to anyone still reading this!<p> 


	19. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own none of these here characters in this here video game.

Chapter 17

They stood silently, staring at Aqua and waiting for a reply. Ventus bit his lip anxiously and looked to Vanitas. Vanitas caught the glance and shrugged.

"Why are you two staring at each other?" Roxas spoke up, "It's weird."

Ventus cleared his throat and looked away, "We were talking." he said. Roxas opened his mouth to speak but then closed it and looked back to Aqua. As confused as he was, he wanted everything to be silent for when Aqua finally decided to speak up. Aqua moved her hand towards her hair and 5 pairs of eyes followed.

"Aqua. . .hurry up." Ventus mumbled.

"Don't mumbled Ventus it's rude." Aqua said. She walked away from the group and towards her office. 5 pairs of feet scrambled to follow her, "You guys aren't going to follow me all day right?"

"But we might miss the answer if we leave." Xion said, "I'd hate that."

"Answer? To what? You haven't asked me anything yet." Aqua said, "You've all just been standing there like weirdo's."

"Remember Aqua, you said to never call people weird," Sora said, "People are not weird, just different."

"That's right Sora, I forgot." She said.

"Now, about that answer." Roxas said, "Remember last week when you asked us what we wanted to play? And I said I want to play Disney World because I saw it on the TV."

"Uh, yes. I remember." Aqua nodded, "But that's not really a question."

"I know, let me finish." Roxas said, "You said you'd think about it, so now we want to know if you thought about it."

"Oh." Aqua reached her office and opened the door, "Yes, I have thought about it."

Ventus and Vanitas caught up with Aqua and looked at her expectantly, "Well?" Ventus asked.

"Well, going to Disney world seems really expensive and I don't want anything like the circus incident to happen. I can't imagine what would happen if we lost one of you in a different state."

Roxas frowned, "What? Is that a no?"

"But I think we can all take a much needed break if we go out of town. . ." Aqua said.

"So. . .yes?" Ventus asked, "Are you still thinking?"

"Well, seeing as I'm the only one working right now. . .I just don't think we could make it this summer." Aqua said.

"No! I have to go this summer!: Roxas shouted.

"I could go back to work. . ." Vanitas said quietly, "I mean if you guys really want to go."

Aqua stared at him, "I couldn't make you work for us. . ." she said. Vanitas looked a little relieved, "But then again, having you two working would keep you out of trouble."

"You two?" Ventus asked, "As in. . . Vanitas and me?"

"Yes, I've been thinking about how I never let you work. Well, wouldn't it be nice if you finally learned how to support yourself?" Aqua asked, "You can work at one of my restaurants." The one near my office so I can check up on you guys."

"Huh?" Vanitas blinked, "What would we do? I mean I can cook but all Ventus knows how do is drive a car and complain."

"Are you serious? He knows how to sigh too." Sora said defensively, "Like this." He sighed loudly, "He does it all the time."

"I can work. . ." Ventus mumbled.

"What did I just say about mumbling?" Aqua smiled, "We can get TJ to watch the kids while you work." Ventus rubbed his hands together, "Sounds like a plan!" he'd always wanted to go to Disney World, "Let's see how much it costs." He walked into Aqua's office and sat behind her desk, "Do we go to ?"

"No way, that would just take us to the site for the channel." Vanitas pushed Ventus aside, "You go to Google or something and then they'll take you to the right place."

"Guys, do you have to do this now?" Aqua asked, "I have work to do."

"But when can we do it?" Sora asked.

"If we wait to look, we won't be able to go tomorrow." Xion said, "It'll be too late."

"We aren't going tomorrow." Aqua laughed, "Maybe at the end of the summer, only if every extra dime we find goes towards that vacation. The Grand Floridian is not cheap, so we'll have to pull a lot of double shifts."

"Wait a minute. We don't have to stay at the most expensive hotel do we?" Ventus asked.

"The most expensive would be the Royal Asante Presidential Suite at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. That's $2,225 a night. The Grand Floridian is only $1,900 a night." Aqua said.

"Why don't we try a cheaper one? Maybe next year once we've saved up, we can try the Grand Floridian." Ventus suggested.

"Oh, but the cheaper hotels never have a spa. Just a dinky little pool." Aqua shook her head, "I must have a spa. I can't walk and ride roller coasters all day and just not relax at a spa, that would be wrong.""Right," Vanitas nodded, "So next year, we'll go to the Grand Floridian, this year we try something cheap like Pop Century, that's a colorful hotel."

"Oh I like colors." Xion nodded, "Aqua can we stay at that one?"

"But," aqua paused and stared down at the three children, "My spa. . . Fine. Pop Century it is. Now please, get out of my office." Ventus nodded and stood up.

"It has been a pleasure doing business with you miss Aqua." He stepped out of the room and Sora followed.

"I'm telling Riku that we're going to Disney world on Sunday." He said, "He'll be so jealous."

"We aren't going on Sunday Sora, at the end of the summer. Late July, early August."

"But you said Sunday is the end of the summer. Friday is the beginning and Sunday is the ending." Sora said.

"That's the weekend." Vanitas pushed by Ventus, "Don't you teach these kids anything?" Ventus rolled his eyes, of course he taught them things. They just didn't like to listen, especially Roxas.

"Stop being so mean to Ventus." Xion pinched her older brothers leg.

"Guys, we have to pack for Disney World! Roxas bounced up and down, we're going tomorrow!"

"No, we aren't." Ventus sighed. They weren't going to listen to him, they were too excited.

"Told you he could sigh!" Sora giggled as he ran towards his room.

"He's right, you can. It's all you do." Vanitas said thoughtfully, "You have the perfect life here, I mean, as perfect as it can get for you. Yet you still sigh as if something is missing or as if you're annoyed with everything you have. I don't understand you."

"I don't act like that!" Ventus snapped, "Do I?" Vanitas closed his eyes and shrugged before walking off to his room.

Rolled his eyes and sighed-Oh crap- He just did it! He was always sighing, but that didn't mean he wasn't happy with his life. . .did it? He had to admit, he always felt a part of him was missing. But only a small part, and that could easily be remedied by getting a girlfriend or something like that. Right?

0.o.0.o.0

I finished Dream Drop Distance! Whooo! I love that game. I hate that it's over though, now I'm going to have to wait forever for the next installment.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. It makes me happy to see people are still reading this.

Sorry for the length, I have so much written for the next chapter though. Venny starts his job, Roxas learns to spell banana, Xion hides something, Sora visits Riku's house, Vanitas helps Aqua cook dinner and TJ is very confused. Yus, I gots so much for yous to read in this har fan fiction!

And about Roxas and Sora's vocabulary, it wasn't supposed to normalize so quickly. Not until they started school! But I guess listening to Aqua talk all day teaches you something. ("Ah, you children as so ignorant to the workings of the marvelous world around you! Come, let us frolic through the neighborhood!"). She doesn't talk like that but she still influences them a lot.


	20. Chapter 18

Drip, drip, drip. . .

Sora rolled over and blinked. What was that noise? He looked over towards Roxas's bed and he was sound asleep. So where was that noise coming from?

He pushed the blanket away and got out of bed. Maybe someone had left the water running in the bathroom. He tip toed to the door and pushed it open. It creaked and he sucked in a deep breath, he didn't want to wake Roxas up.

Even quieter then before, Sora left the room and went to the bathroom. He turned on the lights and gave himself a moment to adjust to the brightness. Once he did he turned towards the faucet and noticed it was off completely.

"Hmm. . ." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked over to the toilet. Maybe that was the problem. He looked into the toilet and sighed, there was nothing dripping here either. After a full minute of staring at the toilet, he suddenly had the urge to pee. He stood up and closed the door before going to the toilet and pulling down his pants. He used the bathroom and sang a song that Vanitas had said was annoying until he finished up.

Ignoring the dripping sound, Sora went beck into his room and climbed back into bed. He closed his eyes, ready to fall back asleep when he heard it again.

Drip, drip, drip. . .

He sighed and sat up again, how could he sleep when something was dripping? Whatever was making the noise was probably getting all over the floors. Aqua would think he and Roxas did it and they would get in trouble. He got out of bed and walked over to Roxas' side of the bed. "Roxas!" He whispered loudly, "Get up."

Roxas rolled over and yawned, "What?" he whined. Sora rolled his eyes and put a finger to his lips.

"Roxas you have to be quiet." Sora whispered, "But something's dripping everywhere."

Roxas sat up quickly and looked around, "Oh no. . . We need to get Xion." He climbed out of bed and rushed out of the room. Sora followed quickly and found Roxas standing outside of Vanitas and Xion's room.

"You can't wake up Vanitas." Sora whispered, "He'll get mad and won't make us anymore muffins."

"I know, this is a risky mission." Roxas scratched his chin and looked around, "But we have to."

"Why?"

"It's secret." Roxas mumbled, "Now let's go."

"What's the secret?"

"It wouldn't be much of a secret if I just told you would it?" Roxas reached for the doorknob and took a breath. He opened the door and peeked through, "Hey Vanitas isn't even in there!" He pushed the door open and walked in. Sore walked in and noticed the dripping sound had gotten louder.

"What's that sound?" Sora asked. Roxas ignored him and walked over to the bed, He shook Xion awake and gestured towards the closet. "What is it?" Sora asked. They obviously knew something he didn't.

"Oh, I bet it's just Toby." Xion said sleepily.

"Is he spilling his water again?" Roxas walked over to the closet and opened the door. A small white blob rushed out and jumped onto the bed. Sora bit his lip and stepped back.

"Roxas, what is that?" he asked.

"A puppy. . ."Roxas said slowly, "His name is Toby."

"He needs a haircut." Xion hugged the puppy, "Want to pet him?" Sora climbed into the bed and petted rhe puppy.

"So, um. . . How long have you had him?" he asked.

"Mr. O'Brien next door gave him us last week. His doggy had puppies." Roxas explained. He climbed into the bed, "You can't tell anyone about him."

"Yeah, Aqua will make us get rid of him." Xion said.

"Does Vanitas know?" Sora asked. It seemed unlikely that he didn't. You couldn't hide a puppy for a week without someone finding out.

"Well, he's never home when Toby needs to be let out so. . .no, he doesn't know."

"Well I do now." Everyone's head turned to the door as Vanitas stepped into the room. Roxas attempted to hide Toby under a pillow but the puppy jumped out of the bed and ran over to Vanitas. It barked loudly and Sora bit his lip nervously.

"You can't tell anyone." Roxas got out of bed and tried to quiet Toby down.

"Please Vanitas, you can't." Xion joined Roxas.

"How long did you think you could hide a puppy in my closet?" Vanitas asked, "Aqua would have found out eventually."

"Can you ask her to let us keep it?" Xion asked, "She'll do anything for you."

"No she won't." Vanitas said. He stepped past them and into the room, "It smells horrible in here."

"It's Toby, he peed and spilled his food in the closet." Xion said.

"What have you been feeding him?" Vanitas sat down on the bed and stared at the closet, Sora looked too and noticed a bowl full. . . Cereal.

"I feed him captain crunch." Roxas said, "But he doesn't really eat it."

"I fed him some of my chicken nuggets yesterday. He ate those." Xion said thoughtfully.

"Dogs are carnivores Roxas. They don't eat cereal." Vanitas said, "I mean they can but it's best to feed them meat or dog food."

"Aqua has big steaks in the freezer," Roxas smiled, "Sora go get them." Sora started to climb off of the bed and Vanitas held him back.

"No, you guys are going to go to bed." he said, "We'll make him a bed in the garage and talk to Aqua tomorrow."

"But what if he's hungry?" Xion asked, "He'll starve."

"No he won't." Vanitas picked up the dog and left the room.

Roxas crossed his arms and stared really hard at the floor while Xion stared sadly after Vanitas. "We're going to have to get rid of him." she said.

"This is your fault Sora. Why'd you have to wake me up?" Roxas pointed accusingly at Sora.

"Well, he was going to find out eventually." Sora said. He slowly got out of bed, "Maybe Aqua will let us keep him. If we're really good." Roxas rolled his eyes and left the room. Xion pushed by him and threw herself onto the bed dramatically. "I just wanted the dripping to stop. I'm sorry."

"Go away." Xion mumbled into her pillow. Sora sighed and slowly made his way back to his' room. He frowned guiltily as Roxas crawled into his bed and turned his back to him. He closed his eyes and turned away from him, maybe Roxas would forget all about it in the morning.

0.o.0.o.0

"Breakfast!" Aqua called up the stairs. It was 9 in the morning and she was surprised that neither of the children were awake yet. They usually woke up at around 7 and ate breakfast, which was usually cereal. But today, there was no sign of them When she checked their rooms, they were all still sound asleep. She'd taken that opportunity to make them a big breakfast. After all, Ventus and Vanitas would be starting work that day so she wanted them to be prepared."Guys?" she called again.

Roxas came out into the hallway and yawned, he looked down at Aqua and frowned sadly."Sorry…" he mumbled as he walked down the steps,"I just wanted a doggy real bad."

"Huh?" She had no idea what he was talking about, but maybe that was why he was up all night,"Do you have a dog?"

"No." Roxas crossed his arms,"Vanitas took him away and put him in the garage." Aqua blinked and looked towards the garage, she'd heard noises previously but hadn't thought much of it.

"Let's go and see how he's doing."Aqua said. She walked nervously towards the garage and wondered what kind of dog they had in there. Was it big? Was it messy? How did it look?"Where did you get this dog Roxas?" she hoped he hadn't stolen it from anybody.

"Mr. O'Brian said we could have him!" Roxas raced to the garage and opened the door,"TOBY!" he shouted.

"Roxas, inside voices." Aqua reminded. Roxas bounced happily and waited as a white blob slowly walked into the room. At first, it looked like an over sized mouse and she almost screamed. But then she saw that it was a rather adorable puppy with shiny white hair, "Oh, it's adorable." she said,"How long have you had him?"

"A week. He lived in Vanitas closet and I fed him cereals." Roxas admitted,"Can I keep him?"

Aqua thought about it. A dog wouldn't be a bad idea, Ventus had asked for one multiple times so maybe she'd let him keep it. But then again, her house was messy enough with three small children living there. A dog would just add to the mess and since Vanitas and Ventus didn't like to clean anything, the house would be messy all day. But! The dog was adorable, and she liked cute things. "We'll talk after breakfast." she said, "Go get the others." Roxas nodded and ran back to his room to wake Sora and perhaps tell him something that hadn't actually been agreed to yet. He looked so happy, how could she possibly tell him he couldn't keep the puppy?

She walked back into the kitchen and sighed, her answer would probably be yes.

0.o.0.o.0

I want a puppy. A shiny puppy with curly hair that will sing me songs and take me on boat rides and… never mind.

This chapter is something I found on my computer. I edited a lot and here it is. Whoop! Roxas and Xion now have a dog and will probably try to take it to Disney world. That chapter will come fast, maybe 1 or 2 chapters about Ventus having a job before I just pretend the worked the entire summer and went to Disney World! Yeah, deal with it. I think there will be at least 8 chapters of them at Disney World.


	21. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own KH or anything related.

Chapter 19

Vexen sat at his desk. His life had taken an unexpected turn in the last few months. He hated to admit it, but he was bored. His other experiments simply weren't holding his interest as Sora and Roxas had. They were miracle children. They survived every test he put them through and didn't seem to be affected in the least. Usually the specimens placed under radiation lights ended up with some sort of cancer or any sort of deficiency really. But they were different. Nothing affected them. Well, except for one thing…

But then he let them go. He let that teenage boy who didn't seem to hold an ounce of respect for what had gone on with them take them away. And now what? Their odd ability was being wasted on trivial things like parks and TV shows. It was shameful.

He sighed angrily and stood up, sure things were probably fine with them now, but all he'd have to do is show the boy why those two had been locked up in the first place. His anger melted away and he turned to the pile of files that he'd purposely hidden from Ventus. The parts that held the more sinister part of his experiments. He knew exactly what to expose them to if he wanted a specific reaction. A reaction that would convince the boy to give him back his experiments.

"Perfect." he began calculating the costs of continuing his research. $500, $700, $2,000... Where would he get that much? He only had a specific amount for his experiments and despite how boring the other experiments were, he couldn't afford to take a single penny from them. He slammed his hands down on his desk, he needed money if he was going to get his specimens back and he knew just the right way to get some. Or, he knew the right person to give him some.

0.o.0.o.0

It had been a while since they'd been to the park, and this time, it was a lot more crowded. Sora made his way through the groups of kids and found Riku and Kairi, "Hey guys!" he waved. Riku looked up and waved back. Kairi smiled and ran over.

"Sora! Where were you? We played hide and seek yesterday."

"You did?" he asked, "Can we play again today?"

"We're gonna have to." Kairi leaned in and whispered, "There's a girly guy watching us all."

"Huh?" Sora looked around.

"Don't do that!" Riku whispered as he joined them ,"It'll see you."

"What?" Sora bit his lip, there was some kind of girl-guy monster at the park? "Where?" he asked.

"Um…" Riku pulled his arm and took him towards the slide, "Look there." he pointed towards a person with long blonde hair sitting on a bench. He looked familiar…

"Hey… I know that guy." Sora said, "That's uh…." he struggled to come up with a name, "Ve…xen? Yeah, it's Vexen. He's mean." he nodded.

"Oh, what's he doing here?"

"I don't know…" then it hit him, "He wants to take me back to that weird place." he whispered, "The place with all the white and the tubes." And with the pointed things that he'd used to hurt both he and Roxas.

"Oh, he's going to kidnap you." Kairi whispered, "You want me to tell my grandma?"

"No, we can tell my dad." Riku said, "Or Loz, he can beat the kidnappers up."

"Yeah, do that. Or he'll take me away and hurt me again." Sora said.

"Again!" Riku's eyes widened, "He kidnapped you before?"

"I think so." Sora said. He wasn't sure about that, he'd always been with Vexen before Ventus came. He'd never been out of that room. He could remember hazy dreams of himself being carried out and placed onto a table. He could remember lights and faces, but nothing more. Maybe Vexen was his father…

"Come on, let's tell my dad." Riku said. They rushed through the park towards Riku's dad, "Daddy! That guys trying to kidnap Sora." Riku said, "Arrest him."

"I can't just arrest him."

"Yeah you can, I saw you do it once." Riku glanced over at Vexen, "And he keeps watching us."

"I can talk to him." Sephiroth sighed, "But if he wants to watch his children at the park, then he has every right to."

"Vexen doesn't have any kids." Sora spoke up, "He just had us, but then he gave us away."

"What?" Kairi asked, "Why would he give you away?"

"What does it matter? I wouldn't want to live with him." Riku narrowed his eys, "He's creepy. And he has girl hair."

"So does your dad." Kairi said.

"Shut up!" Riku crossed his arms, "That's different."

"No it isn't." Kairi said, "Your dad has a lot more hair then anybody in the world!"

"He said he didn't want us." Sora interupted, "So he gave us to Ventus. But before that, he poked us with a bunch of needles and made us drink weird juice."

Sephiroth was silent for a moment before standing, "I can talk to him." he said, "But nothing more. But Riku?"

"Yes?" Riku looked up.

"Don't tell people to shut up. It's rude." They watched Sephiroth navigate through the crowd towards Vexen. But before he made it, Vexen had jumped up and left the scene.

"Why did he run away?" Kairi asked.

"Because he's afraid of my dad. Everybody is." Riku crossed his arms, "Because my dad was in a war and he's a police officer and-"

"Yeah that's cool." Kairi interrupted, "My dad was in a war too."

"But he didn't become super famous. He was just a regular soldier, my dad was the best."

"My dad was a good soldier too!" Kairi argued.

Sora drowned them out and looked to where Vexen had been sitting. Why was he at the park? Was he really trying to take him back? "Sora? Come play tag with us." Riku said, "And then we can play pirates."

"Can't we play pirates first? I can't run as fast as you." Kairi said.

"Whatever, but I get to be captain."

"You _always _get to be captain!" Kairi sighed. Sora laughed and followed them through the park.

0.o.0.o.0

Roxas sighed, Axel wasn't here anymore and neither was Demyx. He was alone with Xion and she didn't want to do anything fun. She just wanted to sit and look at the flowers. "I like this one." she pointed to a bright blue flower, "It reminds me of Aqua."

"Yeah." Roxas looked around and noticed Namine sitting alone in a patch of grass. "Hey Xion? Wanna go over there?"

"Sure." Xion stood up and Roxas led the way over to her.

"Hey Namine!" he shouted. The girl looked up in surprise before smiling.

"Roxas, I haven't seen you in forever." Namine said, "Look what I drew." Namine lifted up her sketchpad and showed him the picture. It was a picture of someone standing behind a tree.

"Um… it's a little creepy." Roxas said.

"Hey… that guys over there!" Xion pointed towards a large tree. Standing behind it was a man, a familiar man. It was Vexen, and he was watching them.

"Um… Namine, how long has he been there?" Roxas asked.

Namine shrugged, "I don't know. He asked me if I saw a blonde kid and then said I could draw him." Namine said, "I told him I saw a lot of blonde kids."

"He's weird." Xion commented.

"Yes, he's always like that." Namine said, "He uses a lot of big words even though I can't understand them…"

"You know him?"

"Kind of. He comes to my house every week." Namine said, "And he gives me weird candies that make me sick."

"So why do you eat them?"

"He says I'll die if I don't." Namine frowned, "I feel better when I don't eat them, but mommy says that I have to eat them." Roxas wasn't sure what to say, he just knew he didn't want to be around Vexen anymore. He knew Vexen was bad, he'd hurt them before Ventus had taken them away… but was he hurting Namine too?

"Let's play somewhere else." he held his hand out, "Maybe we can play with Riku and Kairi." Namine took his hand and he led her away from the patch of grass, "Come on Xion." Xion ran to catch up and he turned around and cast a glance at Vexen. He shivered as the man smiled and turned away.

"He's weird." Xion said again.

"Yeah." Roxas agreed.

"He is." Namine nodded. Roxas led the way to Sora, Riku, and Kairi. He wasn't in the mood for playing anymore. He wanted to tell Ventus all about Vexen watching them and feeding Namine weird candies. But since Ventus was at work, he would have to wait... and maybe even get some ice cream too.

0.o.0.o.0

What can I say? I'm really sorry. I have no excuses for why I haven't updated. I could say writers block, because that wouldn't be a total lie. I went back and read the entire story and I hate how horrible the grammar is in the beginning. I should get to fixing all that.

Next chapter would take place at the same time as this one. Except it would be about Ventus and Vanitas at work. Or I could explain what the heck Vexen is doing back in this story. And how Namine is involved. It's your choice, I will do both chapters. But I'll let you guys decide which you want first.

Thank you for reading, I know it's a short chapter, but I just need to get back into the loop of things before I can start updating regularly again.

One more thing, anybody played Bioshock Infinite So many fanfic ideas swirling in my head, I'll start them after this is finished though.


	22. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer: I don't own KH or anything related._

Chapter 20

A slightly inhuman sound came from his stomach and he looked around to make sure no one heard. He was starving and looking at trays upon trays of food didn't seem to be helping. He should have eaten breakfast. "Hungry Venny?" Ventus looked up and saw Vanitas snacking on a piece of toast.

"Why do you get to eat the food?" Ventus snapped.

"Because I cooked it." he laughed, "And all the food you have is meant for customers."

Ventus looked at the tray in his hands and glared at Vanitas, "This isn't fair." he mumbled as he walked away. The job was pretty easy, at least so far. It was only breakfast time and Aqua had mentioned how bad things were at lunch, but he wouldn't be working then. Not for the entire time, he was going to take a long break.

"Ventus!" someone shouted. He turned and saw Aqua entering the room, "I've been looking all over for you!" she walked over to him and smiled down at the customer. They smiled in return, clearly they were used to her.

"What is it?" he set the food down carefully and smiled at the customers as well.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." she said, "And I saw the kids at the park, they're adjusting well to other people. They'll be more then ready to start school."

She led him away from the table and towards the kitchen, "It's rather slow in the morning." she muttered, "But the older people leave generous tips as long as you smile and what not."

"I'll keep that in mind." he said.

"This isn't to hard on you?" she asked, "Because we could always abandon the idea now." Ventus almost laughed. The reason he'd never had a job was, not only because he had been too young, but also because Aqua had been afraid that he'd be too stressed to do anything. She seemed to think he couldn't handle anything.

"Aqua, I want this vacation too." he said, "I can do a little work."

"I've already paid for the trip. You're only working to get the money back." Aqua said.

"We're fine." Vanitas left the kitchen and handed him a piece of bread, "This has been easy."

"So far. But the lunch rush will stress you out. Vanitas, orders will come in faster then you can handle."

"I'm not the only one back there, Aqua." Vanitas reminded, "You have a whole staff."

"But people will get upset with Ventus if he doesn't hurry." she said, "Which means you have to hurry or he won't be tipped."

"Aqua." Ventus started, "We're fine."

"I think I'll help too." she said, "The customers love me."

"Aqua, we're fine. There are 6 others out on the florr. I'm not the only one here." Ventus said, "You should… do what you usually do…"

"Which is?" she narrowed her eyes.

"I don't know, "You're always away doing something." Ventus shrugged.

"I balance finances and do other boring things." she sighed, "Let me have fun and talk to people."

"Yeah Ventus, let her have fun." Vanitas smirked.

"Whatever, it's your choice." Ventus muttered. Vanitas went back into the kitchen and Aqua left to change into a uniform. The next group of people came in, but it wasn't his turn to seat them. Instead, a girl named Tifa took them. She sent him a smile and he found himself blushing. She was pretty, sure, but no… he didn't have time for a girlfriend. Right? Right.

0.o.0.o.0

He was somewhat happy to be in the kitchen, he didn't have to deal with the customers, which he knew could get pretty obnoxious. They were older people, who sometimes seemed to think that because the frequented the place that they should get special treatment. Sure, he hadn't seen any like those, but they were like that on TV shows.

"You're kneading it too much." someone said. And that was where the job got annoying. His fellow cooks. Aqua had assigned him to back bread and biscuits, but there was one other person who did so. A man named Marluxia.

"I just started."

"But you're to rough." Marluxia said, "That bread will be flat as paper."

"Then you do it." he stepped away from the dough and watched Marluxia carefully knead the dough. A sudden anger erupted in his chest, he knew how to knead dough, he worked at a bakery for an entire year.

"Don't just stand there, start on the muffins." Marluxia ordered.

"Yes your fluffiness."

"What?"

"Nothing." Vanitas said as he began making the muffins. What kind of guy had pink hair? There were a lot of people he'd met since he started hanging around Ventus, and he noticed a lot of them had oddly colored hair. Before that, the oddest thing he'd seen were Lea's bright red hair.

"Too much flour!" Marluxia shouted suddenly.

"Hey, I know what I'm doing." he snapped.

"Aqua has a specific recipe that you must use. You're too random." Marluxia said. Vanitas rolled his eyes, he was starting to see why no one worked with him. They worked quietly for at least an hour before Marluxia spoke up again, "Aqua's a nice person." he said.

"I know." he agreed.

"But maybe she's too nice, she gives anyone who asks a job." Marluxia sighed, "But I suppose we need people like her."

"Yeah." he murmured.

"Why did you get a job?" Marluxia asked, "She may give anyone a job, but even she has boundaries."

"What the hell does that mean?" Vanitas stayed calm as he poured the muffin batter into the paper cups. He was used to being looked at like he was dirt, his dad did it all the time. He knew how to handle these situations.

"Everyone knows about your family, I just assumed she wouldn't want people like _you _back here." Marluxia shrugged, "I wouldn't." He wanted to ask what he meant by that. He was a normal kid, responsible even, did he look that evil? Maybe it was his hair.

"Who cares what you think?" he asked, "Why the hell did you get the job?"

"Because I'm good at what I do. I had my own bakery before I had to close it down." Marluxia said, "She needed people with experience." Aqua entered the kitchen suddenly, maybe she sensed the commotion.

"Ah, how are you doing?" she asked. She looked between the two of them, "This job isn't too rough is it?

"You don't have to check up on me Aqua." he sighed, "I've worked here before."

"Of course not, but Marly isn't as workable as you." she said.

"Excuse me?" Marluxia spoke up, he was clearly offended, which made Vanitas smile.

"You know what I mean. You drive every baker I send in here away." she said with a sigh, "You seem to think you're the master bread baker."

Vanitas snorted, "Master bread baker?" A good title, not a great as The Muffin God, but still great.

"Yeah, people complain about the bread. That's why I sent Vanitas here, people love his cooking." she said.

"People don't complain about my bread! I fill every loaf with love and kindness."

"And you also burn them." she reminded.

"I like them brown." he said. She put on a pair of oven mitts and rolled her eyes.

"Not your call to make, I left you the recipe for a reason." she walked over to the oven and pulled out the tray of bread, "See, these are good. You did a good job here."

"I didn't make those." Marluxia muttered sadly.

Aqua set the bread down and smiled sympathetically, "Maybe you should take a lesson from Vanitas." she took off the gloves, "You're doing great." she patted his head before leaving the room.

"I put love and kindness in every loaf." he repeated, "Every loaf." Vanitas smirked at his back before continuing to make muffins.

0.o.0.o.0

I don't think there will be any relationships in here. It's supposed to be about Sora and Roxas, but eh, it's not really.


	23. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don't own KH or anything related.

Chapter 21

When Vanitas went back to Aqua's house, he wasn't expecting to see his father. After a long day of work, he'd planned to give the kids the muffins he made and take a long nap. Working with Marluxia had taken a lot out of him. Honestly, he'd heard him criticize how much love he was putting into each loaf about 20 times in one hour alone. How much longer could he handle it?

He also wasn't expecting an invitation to dinner. His dad was dressed nicely and clean, a significant change from what he was usually like. Still, his first thought was to say no, this couldn't and wouldn't end well. But to everyone's surprise, even his own, he agreed.

"Might as well." he shrugged when Aqua shot him a confused glance.

"Alright." she took a breath and Vanitas could see that she was worried. He tried to smile for her, but he still hadn't gotten used to doing things like that. His failed smile reassured her slightly and she nodded. He took Xion's hand and left with his dad.

"Your mom and I, we're moving." his dad started.

"You're still together?" Vanitas questioned. After the commotion they'd made? After all of the money they'd spent. After all of the rumors?

"We worked it out." he shrugged.

"What about Xion?" Vanitas glanced back at the young girl, she was staring out of the window sleepily.

"She might as well be your kid, I don't even know the girl." his dad said, "And after today, your mom doesn't want to see her again." Vanitas sighed and looked forward, "She's been worried about you."

"No she hasn't." his mother had made absolutely no attempt to contact him. She had his phone number and any text he sent her way went unanswered. How worried could she be?

"She has. She cries for you. She thinks she drove you away." his dad chuckled. Vanitas looked out of the window and recalled the conversation before he left. She hadn't been the only factor. His father was 82 percent of the reason he'd run out on them. The other percent was his mother's tolerance of his abuse. (And the fact that she sold his car to pay for her divorce trial.)

"Well, I'm sure this visit will make her so happy." he muttered.

"Don't be rude to her. We're still your parents and I still have every right to punish you." his father threatened. Vanitas didn't respond. Surely his father new that he wasn't afraid of him, he never had been.

"Are we almost there?" Xion asked from the back seat. She was getting restless and that was never good, especially since there was nothing to distract her.

"Actually, we're here." his dad said. They pulled into their driveway and Vanitas saw his mother standing in the doorway. She smiled when his father stepped out of the car, she kept smiling when Vanitas got out of the car, her smile faltered slightly when she saw Xion, but she kept up her charade.

"Vanitas, I've missed you." she walked over and hugged him, "I made your favorite tonight."

"What?"

"Spaghetti." she answered confidently. He hated spaghetti. But Xion loved it.

"Thanks." he nodded and she released him from the hug. He wanted to ask her about the car, if she hadn't gone through with the divorce, then shouldn't he get his money back? He was tired of piggybacking with Ventus. He wanted his car back.

"It's been stressful, it seems everybody at work thinks our family is dead." she smiled.

"Amber-

"Mom. I'm still your mother." she corrected, "You can call Paul whatever you like, but I'm still mom."

"Mom, why are you still together?" he asked.

"He apologized, he won't do it again." she said. Of course he would, he never kept his promises.

"Why am I here?"

"I'm pregnant, your father and I are starting a new life." Amber said. Vanitas looked down at her stomach and noticed that she was indeed pregnant, "I wanted one last dinner with you." He didn't know why the comment had hurt him so much, he'd distanced himself from his parents long ago. But the idea that she was ready to up and leave him behind was unsettling for him.

"Oh." he managed. Paul might have sensed the tension, because he urged everyone to sit down at the table. Vanitas took Xion's hand again and sat down. Xion kept her eyes on her lap while Paul and Amber conversed. He wanted to pull her into his lap and comfort her, she wasn't wanted in the house at all, and she could tell. Vanitas sighed and prepared himself for what was likely to be a very gut-wrenching dinner.

0.o.0.o.0

Ventus walked through the house and looked at the small pictures on the walls. They weren't photos or paintings, no they were doodles done in permanent marker. PERMANENT MARKER.

"Roxas?" he called.

"Yeah?" the boy answered quickly.

"Are you drawing on the walls?"

"No, I did that before TJ took us to the park." he answered, "Like it?"

"Aqua is going to freak out." Ventus said.

"Why? I drew her too." Roxas pointed to a stick figure drawn with a blue marker, "It's so she'll know that I like her and staying here is fun."

"Yeah, cute." he said. And it was. Aqua was standing in front of an oven, or a square with smoke coming from it, and cooking a pot of …hearts? Yes, hearts. And not to far from that, was Ventus and Vanitas sitting at the table and eating those hearts. Now that was creepy.

"It's because she loves to cook." Roxas explained. He pointed to another stick figure, "That's Sora and Kairi."

"The girl from the park?" Ventus scratched his head. He'd only seen her once, but she seemed nice.

"Um, yeah. They're going to get married." Roxas said, "Or he's going to marry Riku." Ventus ignored the comment and looked at the other drawings. They stretched all the way down the hall and ended with a rather intimidating picture of a blonde man. "That's Vexen." Roxas said, "He's been following us."

"What?"

"At the park, and he gives Nami candy that makes her sick." Roxas frowned, "He's weird."

"Why-" he stopped. Why was Vexen stalking the kids? He said he was done with them so why? Was it even something that he should worry about? Maybe the candy part was, but he could just tell Namine's grandmother and leave it alone.

"So, are you working tomorrow?" Roxas asked, "What's it like?"

"Tiring."

"Why?"

"I move around a lot."

"What kind of job is it?"

"A normal one."

"Can you make me a snack?"

"I guess I have to don't I?"

"When is Xion getting back? And Toby peed on your bed." Ventus sighed and started for the kitchen. It had been a while since he was assaulted with questions like that and he wasn't prepared for it.

"Where's Sora?"

"He went with Aqua to the store." Ventus yawned and entered the kitchen. Why was he so tired? The doorbell rang and he yawned again. "I'll get it!" Roxas shouted. Ventus followed behind him and gasped as he opened the door.

"Vexen?" he narrowed his eyes as the man entered the house and aimed a sinister smirk at Roxas. Aqua and Sora followed behind him. Aqua had a concerned look on her face and Sora just looked scared. "What's going on?"

"We need to talk." she said slowly, "Vexen wants the boys back."

0.o.0.o.0

I'm horrible. This story is supposed to be happy. But don't worry. They will get to Disney World, I promise. It's like, one of the most important parts of the story. Things I'll try to touch on:

Aqua and Terra's relationship. (Even though I suck at romance)

The results of Vexen's experiments on the boys (It's going to be sad)

The results of Vexen's experiments with Namine (Equally as sad as the above)

DISNEY WORLD! (Which will be happy enough for all the sadness.)

Oh and Ventus and Vanitas... No romance here. But my next fic will. I promise.


	24. Note

**A/N: This is a note to say I am getting ready to continue this story. There are going to be major rewrites first, so be prepared. Sorry, I know it's been so long and i'm really ashamed for making you guys wait but rest assured that this fic will be finished. :)**


	25. Note 2

**A/N: Okay, the first chapter of the new story is up. It's called Dream a Little Dream of Me. I changed the title and started a new story instead of updating this one. You can find it on my profile so please go read it there. Thank you. :)**


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